7 Expressing Reality in Language: Nahua Linguistic Theory 203
In: Aztec Religion and Art of WritingSearch for other papers by Isabel Laack in
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Abstract
This chapter analyzes Indigenous ideas about the relationship between the linguistic sign and reality. The Nahuas cherished a powerful oral tradition performed in multimedia contexts. The two colonial documents known as the Cantares Mexicanos and the Romances de los Señores de la Nueva España, which contain alphabetic transcriptions of Nahua songs, have been interpreted by influential scholars as remnants of an Indigenous “literary” tradition. This chapter reconstructs the motivation behind this invention of tradition and discusses the history of the songs’ contested interpretations. Confronted with the highly complex structure of Nahua linguistic expression in the songs, this chapter examines some characteristics of thinking in Nahuatl and Nahua imagery. While Nahua imagery has traditionally been understood as metaphoric, it is argued that it worked metonymically. Finally, evidence suggests that Nahuatl was considered a natural language directly depicting reality in its sound.