Nawat language
Nawat (academically Pipil, also known as Nahuat) is a Nahuan language native to Central America. It is the southernmost extant member of the Uto-Aztecan family. It was spoken in several parts of present-day Central America before Spanish colonization, but now is mostly confined to western El Salvador. It has been on the verge of extinction in El Salvador, and has already gone extinct elsewhere in Central America. In 2012, a large number of new Nawat speakers started to appear. As of today, the language is currently going through a revitalization.
| Nawat | |
|---|---|
| Nāwat, Nāwataketsalis (Náhuat) | |
| Native to | El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica |
| Region | Sonsonate, Ahuachapán, La Libertad, San Salvador, Escuintla, Rivas, Bagaces, Olancho |
| Ethnicity | 11,100 Pipils (2005 census), 20,000+ Nicaraos |
Native speakers | 500 (2015) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ppl |
| Glottolog | pipi1250 |
| ELP | Pipil |
Pipil is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
In El Salvador, Nawat (Nahuat) was the language of several groups: Nonualcos, Cuscatlecos, Izalcos and is known to be the Nahua variety of migrating Toltec. The name Pipil for this language is mostly used by the international scholarly community to differentiate it more clearly from Nahuatl. In Nicaragua it was spoken by the Nicarao people who split from the Pipil around 1200 CE when they migrated south. Nawat became the lingua franca there during the 16th century. A hybrid form of Nahuat-Spanish was spoken by many Nicaraguans up until the 19th century.