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words. For example, in Nahuatl a word that refers to an entity not considered to be animate lacks marked pluralization; thus one sandal is a cactli, and two sandals are two cactli. (Contrast this with animate nouns; for example, one noble is a pilli, while two nobles are two pipiltin.) A -tl or -tli on the end of a noun is a singular-number suffix (or a common-number suffix), and I have not attached an English pluralizing -s to make a word fit the English reader's expectations. However, some Nahuatl words have entered the English language and therefore conform to English spelling, pronunciation, and pluralization; for example, ahtlatl has become atlatl, pluralized atlatls. In such instances I have used the anglicized word, after first noting the source form in its standardized spelling. Nahuatl words that are marked for plural are, of course, left with their plural endings; the plural suffixes for nouns are -tin, -meh, and -h; the plural suffixes for verbs and derivative nouns are -h and -queh. |
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I have chosen not to use the plural form of gentile names (i.e., names designating a group or a people). I have anglicized them to a certain extent. A large number of such names end in -catl for the singular and -cah for the plural; for example, Aztecatl/Aztecah and Chalcatl/Chalcah. In Spanish all such words are easily hispanized by dropping the suffix -tl for the singular (Aztecatl becomes Azteca; Chalcatl becomes Chalca) and replacing -h with the Spanish plural -s (Aztecah becomes Aztecas; Chalcah becomes Chalcas). This procedure would work as easily for English, except that by tradition we have forms such as Aztec/Aztecs and Toltec/Toltecs; that is, whenever the -catl and -cah are preceded by a vowel, one deletes not only the number suffix but the preceding -a- as well. A problem arises, however, when either the -catl or the -cah is preceded by a consonant, as in the case of Chalcatl/Chalcah or Tetzcocatl/Tetzcocah. For these I have chosen to drop the Nahuatl singular suffix -tl for the anglicized singular and to replace the Nahuatl plural suffix -h with the English plural suffix -s: Chalca/Chalcas and Tetzcoca/Tetzcocas. The only problem with my proposed usage is that my singular form has frequently been used as the plural form in the scholarly literature. My solution, however, permits the singular form to serve as an adjective with both types of formations: ''Aztec banner,'' "Chalca banner." There is one other situation in which the second technique for anglicizing is usedwhen the first technique would produce a place name. For example, any gentile noun ending in |
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