Pipil People - Synonymy and Language

Synonymy and Language

The name Pipil is the most commonly encountered term in the anthropological and linguistic literature. This exonym is from the closely related Nahuatl word -pil "son, boy" (Nahuatl is a dialect complex that includes languages and dialects of these such as Classical Nahuatl, Milpa Alta Nahuatl, Tetelcingo Nahuatl, Matlapa, Isthmus-Mecayapan Nahuat, among others). Archaeologist William Fowler notes that pipil can be translated as "noble" and surmises that the invading Maya and Spanish used the name as a reference to the population's princely caste, which owned all land and directed and composed the standing army. In this reading, the name "Pipil" only later became associated with the people as a whole. Common Salvadoran popular belief, however, is that the term pipil translates properly as "childish" and was inspired by the simple form of Nahuatl spoken by the people living at such distance from the core civilization in Mexico.

The Pipil speak the endangered Uto-Aztecan language Nawat, also known as Pipil in English, and as náhuat in Spanish (the older form nahuate is no longer current).

Nahuatl -pil is cognate with Nawat pi:pil "boy". The autonym in the Nawat language is simply Nawat which is related to the Classical Nahuatl word nauatl.

For most authors the term Pipil (Nawat) is used to refer to the language in only Central America (i.e. excluding Mexico). However, the term (along with the synonymous Eastern Nahuatl) has also been used to refer to Nahuatl language varieties in the southern Veracruz, Tabasco, and Chiapas that like Pipil have reduced the earlier /tl/ sound to a /t/. The varieties in these three areas do share greater similarities with Nawat than the other Nahuatl varieties do (suggesting a closer connection); however, Campbell (1985) considers Nawat distinct enough to be considered a language separate from the Nahuatl complex, thus rejecting an Eastern Nahuatl subgrouping that includes Nawat.

Finally, for other authors the term Aztec is used to refer to all closely languages in this region as a single language, not distinguishing Nawat from Nahuatl (and sometimes not even separating out Pochutec). The classification of Nahuan that Campbell argues for (1985, 1997) has been superseded by newer and more detailed classifications. And currently the widely accepted classifications by Lastra de Suarez (1986) and Canger (1988), see Pipil as a Nahuan dialect of the eastern periphery.

• Uto-Aztecan 5000 BP*
  • Shoshonean (Northern Uto-Aztecan)
  • Sonoran**
  • Aztecan 2000 BP (a.k.a. Nahuan)
    • Pochutec — Coast of Oaxaca
    • General Aztec (Nahuatl)
      • Western periphery
      • Eastern Periphery
        • Pipil
        • Sierra de Puebla
        • Isthmus-Mecayapan
      • Huasteca
      • Central dialects

Dialects of Pipil include the following:

• Ataco
• Tacuba
• Santa Catarina Mazaguat
• Santo Domigo de Guzmán
• Nahuizalco
• Izalco
• Teotepeque
• Jicalapa
• Comazagua
• Chiltiupan
• Cuisnahuat

Today Nawat is seldom used except in some rural areas and mostly as phrases sustained in households in Sonsonate and Ahuachapán departments. Cuisnahuat and Santo Domingo de Guzmán have the highest concentration of speakers. Campbell's 1985 estimate (fieldwork 1970-1976) was 200 remaining speakers although as many as 2000 speakers have been recorded in official Mexican reports. Gordon (2005) reports only 20 speakers (from 1987). The exact number of speakers is difficult to determine because native speakers do not wish to be identified due to historic government repression of aboriginal Salvadoreños, such as La Matanza ("The Massacre") of 1932.