Page:Myths of Mexico and Peru.djvu/474



As the Spanish alphabet was that first employed to represent Mexican or Nahuatl phonology, so Mexican words and names must be pronounced, for the most part, according to the Castilian system. An exception is the letter x, which in Spanish is sometimes written as j and pronounced as h aspirate; and in Nahuatl sometimes as in English, at other times as sh or s. Thus the word "Mexico" is pronounced by the aboriginal Mexican with the hard x, but by the Spaniard as "May-hee-co." The name of the native author Ixtlilxochitl is pronounced "Ishtlishotshitl," the ch being articulated as tsh, for euphony. Xochicalco is "So-chi-cal-co." The vowel sounds are pronounced as in French or Italian. The tl sound is pronounced with almost a click of the tongue.

The Maya alphabet consists of twenty-two letters, of which j, ch, k, pp, th, tz are peculiar to the language, and cannot be properly pronounced by Europeans. It is deficient in the letters d,f, g,j, q, r, s. The remaining letters are sounded as in Spanish. The letter x occurring at the beginning of a word is pronounced ex. For example, Xbalanque is pronounced "Exbalanke." The frequent occurrence of elisions in spoken Maya renders its pronunciation a matter of great difficulty, and the few grammars on the language agree as to the hopelessness of conveying any true idea of the exact articulation of the language by means of written directions. Norman in his work entitled Rambles in Yucatan remarks: "This perhaps accounts for the disappearance of all grammars and vocabularies of the Maya tongue from the peninsula of Yucatan, the priests finding it much easier to learn the language directly from the Indian than to acquire it from books."

The two languages spoken in Peru in ancient times were the Quichua, or Inca, and the Aymara. These still survive. The former was the language of the Inca rulers of the country, but both sprang from one common linguistic stock. As these languages were first reduced to writing by means of a European alphabet, their pronunciation presents but little difficulty, the words practically being pronounced as they are written, having regard to the "Continental" pronunciation of the vowels. In Quichua the same sound is given to the intermediate 'c before a consonant and to the final c, as in "chacra" and "Pachacamac." The general accent is most frequently on the penultimate syllable