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Arte de lengua totonaca

Zambrano Bonilla, José

DomaineTraditions non-occidentales
SecteurGrammaires amérindiennes [4677]
Auteur(s)

Zambrano Bonilla, José

Variantes: Joseph / Sambrano

Datation: fl. 1752

Almost nothing is known about Zambrano Bonilla’s life (also frequently spelled as Sambrano in the peritexts of the grammar), except that he was a “Cura Beneficiado, Vicario and Juez Ecclesiástico”, as we read in the title of the book. He was not member of any religious order, but worked as secular priest in San Andrés Hueytlalpan in the Sierra Norte of the modern state of Puebla. In one of the peritexts of the book, we read that he also knew Nahuatl (la lengua Mexicana) (“Aprobación”, Ildefonso Moreno). One of his achievements was, according to Ildefonso Moreno, his ability to “unravel complex etymologies, in order to reduce them to the general rules of grammar” (“desenmarañado lo intrincado de las etimologías, para reducirlas a las reglas generales de la Gramática”). In the “Censura” written by one of pupils, Antonio Negreros, all the missionary-linguists who described this “strange” language, Totonac, worked in vain (“han trabajado en vano”) (“Censura”, Antonio Negreros). In the “parecer” written by Joseph Manuel de Medina Coeili, we read that he has been working for 20 years, writing this grammar. At the end of the Totonac grammar, a Totonac Doctrina is appended, written by a certain Francisco Domínguez, who was “cura interino” in Jalpán. This section contains interesting linguistic notes and vocabularies, which are appended with translations from Spanish into two different varieties of Totonac. Zambrano Bonilla wrote also another work entitled Actos de fee, esperanza y charidad (Zambrano Bonilla 1753), which is housed in the John Carter Brown Library. The author also writes in his grammar that he has planned to compile a dictionary as well, but this work has never been found (“... y se hallarán los más en el Vocabulario, que Dios mediante, saldrá después”; p. 120). According to the author, he composed his grammar without having been able to benefit of the work of his predecessors. He argues that he has not seen any previous grammar, although he knew that they existed. When he finished this grammar, “Thanks to God” (Gracias a Dios”), which was a huge enterprise (“obra, que tanto trabajo nos ha costado”), he was able to read the grammars of a certain Pinelo, and another written by Zurita, but as the author claims, he decided not to follow them, since he decided to assume another direction (“no nos ha parecido seguirlos, por llevar nosotros distinto rumbo”; p. 134). The author of the final section entitled “Oraciones, y doctrina de la Cierra baja de Naolingo, Distintas de la Cierra alta de Papantla” is Francisco Domínguez, “cura interino de Xalpam” (p. 49-62), accompanied by a word list.

Titre de l'ouvrageArte de lengua totonaca
Titre traduitGrammar of the Totonac language
Titre courtArte de lengua totonaca
Remarques sur le titreComplete title: Arte de lengua totonaca, conforme á el Arte de Antonio Nebrija, compuesto por D. Joseph Zambrano Bonilla. Cura Beneficiado, Vicario, y Juez Ecclesiastico de San Andres Hueitlalpan. Dedicado a el Illmo. Sr. Dr. D. Domingo Pantaleon Alvarez de Abreu, Dignissimo Arzobispo de esta Dioecesi. Lleva añadido une Doctrina de la Lengua de Naolingo, con algunas vozes de la Lengua de aquella Sierra, y de esta de acá, que por orden de su Illmo. se imprime, su Author el Liç. D. Francisco Dominguez, Cura Interino de Xalpam. The reference to Antonio de Nebrija occurs also in other titles of grammars of this period, such as Oyanguren de Santa Inés’s grammar of Japanese, which was printed in Mexico in 1738 (Arte de la lengua japona, divide en quatro libros según el arte de Nebrixa...) (Zwartjes 2009, 2010).
Période|18e s.|
Type de l'ouvrageComplete grammar covering phonology, morphology and syntax. Descriptive grammar, Didactic/pedagogic grammar for beginners. Word lists and religious texts.
Type indexéGrammaire descriptive | Grammaire didactique | Grammaire élémentaire | Texte religieux
Édition originale1752, Puebla, En la Imprenta de la Viuda de Miguel de Ortega
Édition utiliséeAECID Library (Madrid)
VolumétrieSignatura: 2B-12075 and Signatura: 3GR-7935.
[44], 134, [6], 798 [3] p.; in-4º (20 cm). John Carter Brown has two copies: both copy 1 and copy 2 are imperfect, lacking preliminary pages including t.p. Edition used: Call number: B752/ Z23a. There is also a copy in the Latin American Library, Tulane University LAL (rare) 497.207 Z24a.
John Carter Brown: [44], 134, [6], 79, [3] p.; 15 cm (in-4°).
Tulane University, Latin American Library: 22 p. l., 134, [6], 79, [2] p. illus. 21 cm.
Nombre de signes110000
Reproduction moderneNo recent editions appear in print. Norman McQuown made a “Mecanoscript” in 1938. Microfilm Collection of Manuscripts on Cultural Anthropology, Series 35, n°186, 248 p., University of Chicago, reproduction made in 1976.
DiffusionNo recent editions or reprints of the Zambrano Bonilla’s grammar are available, but Francisco Domínguez’s Catecismo de la Doctrina Cristiana which is included in Zambrano Bonilla’s grammar, has been reprinted separately in Puebla in 1837.
Langues ciblesTotonac (family of the Totonac-Tepehua linguistic family).
There are two different etymologies. The first has already been given in the 18th century by Francisco Domínguez, the author who wrote an appendix to Zamora Bonilla’s grammar and some word-lists. At the end of this wordlist, we find the etymology of this glottonym, which would have been derived from Totonac “three” (toto) and “heart” (naco), referring to the sacrifice of three children each three years (history based on Mendieta, apud Troiani 2007, p. 9). Troiani proposed another etymology and interprets the term as a Nahuatl exonym, derived from tona (“hot”, “it is hot”) with reduplication to marc intensity, with the suffix -c which is a participle, or preterite marker, used with the function to denote the agent to-tona-c = “the people of the hot country” (in Spanish los de “Tierra Caliente”). Tepehua is also a Nahuatl exonym, meaning “the people of the mountains”, which is also used elsewhere (not to be confused with the glottonym, “la lengua tepehuana” which is a Uto-Aztec language from the North-West of Mexico). There are no extant grammars from the colonial period describing Tepehua, the other branch of the Totonac-Tepehua linguistic family. For the genetic relationship between Totonac and Tepehua, see Mackay & Trechsel (2015).
MétalangueCastilian (Spanish: “castellano”, often called “romance”).
Langue des exemplesTotonac. The word-lists appended at the end of the religious texts, written by Francisco Domínguez contain word lists of two varieties of Totonac, the one spoken in the valley and another in the mountains (Sierra baja, Sierra alta). According to Francisco Domínguez, four varieties of Totonac are spoken: Sierra alta (Tatiquilhati) spoken in Xalpan and Pantepeque; two varieties were under the responsibility of the Augustinians (“Los Religiosos Augustinos”), the variety called Ypapana, spoken by the Totonacs and Tatimolo, the variety spoken in Naolingo (p. 78).
Sommaire de l'ouvrageDedicatoria al Illmo. Sr. Dr. D. Domingo de Pantaleón Álvarez de Abreu (José [Joseph] Zambrano); “Parecer” (Manuel Fernandes Dalgado); “Dictamen” (Juan Rolón); “Aprobación” (Ildefonso Moreno); “Parecer” (Bartolomé de Ávila); “Censura” (Antonio Negreros); “Aprobación” (Francisco Xavier Gómez); “Parecer” (José Manuel de Medina Cœli); “Sentir” (Miguel Antonio Márquez Vello); “Suma de licencias (del Superior Gobierno; del Ordinario); “Fe de Herratas”; “Al lector”.
Libro primero en que se trata de la ortografía del nombre, sus diferencias, y del verbo, y modo de formar sus tiempos (p. 1-4); Primera declinación (5-6); segunda declinación (6); tercera declinación (7); declinaciones de los pronombres demostrativos (7-10); ejemplo de la primera conjugación (10-17); ejemplo de la segunda conjugación (17-24); ejemplo de la tercera conjugación (24-33); conjugaciones de los verbos anómalos an, min, lian, limin, chaan… (33-40); conjugaciones de los verbos defectivos huyh, yah, mah (40-44); verbos irregulares lhcacnan, chichinin, lognon… (44); semiverbos poton, liquihin, tilhay, palay, mah, taquiy (44); advertencias para los formaciones de los verbos (46-48); primeros principios, que tratan de las cuatro partes de la oración (48); del nombre (48-49); del pronombre (49); del verbo (49); del participio (49); el uso de los casos (50); de las noticias (50-51).
De institutione grammaticae. Liber secundus (52-58). De genere nominum (51); de genere epicoeno (51-52); de las declinaciones de los nombres. Reglas generales, primera, segunda, tercera declinación (52-54); de los nombres extravagantes (54); advertencias (54-55); de los nombres anómalos (55); de verborum praeteritis (55-57), primera, segunda, tercera conjugación (57-58).
De institutionae grammaticae totonacae. Liber tertius (59-64). Del nombre (59); de los comparativos y superlativos (59-60); anómalos (60); del pronombres (60-61); del verbo (61); del participio (61); de la preposición (61-62); del adverbio (62); de la interjección (62); de la conjunción (62). Notas acerca de estos rudimentos, o libro tercero de la gramática (Notas I-VII) (62-64).
Sintaxis de las partes de la oración. Libro cuarto (65-125). Del nombre sustantivo (65); del nombre adjetivo (65); del nombre derivativo (66); del nombre adjetivo (66); del nombre posesivo (66); nombres nacionales (66); del nombre abstracto (67); nombres numerales (67-68); del pronombre posesivo (68); de los conjugativos (68); del verbo (68-75); del verbo absoluto (69); de los reflexivos (69); de los compulsivos (69); aplicativos (70); de los frecuentativos (7); de verbos compuestos 70-71); primera persona (71-72); segunda persona (72-73); tercera persona (73-74); del verbo pasivo (74); de la composición de unos verbos con otros (74); de la composición del verbo con nombres (74-75); de algunas partículas (75); de los gerundios (75-76); de los participios (76-77); nombres verbales (77); verbal en yo (77-78); verbal en -bilis y en -bundus (78); de las preposiciones (78); de el adverbio (79); interjección (79); conjunción (79).
Notas para mayor declaración de lo que se ha enseñado en la Sintaxis Totonaca (Notas I-VII) (79-86); los nombres numerales, números (para racionales vivientes, irracionales, huevos, guijarros, fruta redonda, tener figura de cabeza, etc.) (86-88); Notas IX-XXVIII (88-99); Notas XXIX (partículas que se posponen, partículas que se anteponen; partículas que se posponen y se anteponen) (99-108); Nota XXXII (gerundios) 108-109); Nota XXXIII (participio) (110-111); Nota XXXIV. De los nombres verbales (111-114); Nota XXXV. De las preposiciones (115-118); Nota XXXVI. Las preposiciones que se componen con semipronombres (118-120); partículas que se advierten en este Arte (120); Nota XXXVII: varios adverbios (locales, temporales, numerales, interrogativos, afirmativos, demostrativos, dubitativos e intensivos) [bilingual word lists Spanish-Totonac, arranged according to their meaning. The list does not only contain adverbs, but also entire phrases or expressions, such as “al silencio de la noche”, “en un abrir y cerrar de ojos”, etc.] (120-125); Nota XXIX: interjección (125); Nota XL: conjunción (125).
De Institutione grammaticae. Liber quintus. De syllabarum quantitate. [with subtitles in Latin:] Atque duas inter vocales Jota repertum; sylava longa duplo; accentus nobis dicta est prosodia graecis. Atque tonus, quem Romani dixere tenorem. At the end, the chapter closes with some remarks, not related to prosody, but to topics related to the “propias voces”, “modos de hablar”, and some figures (from the syntaxis figurata), such as: “frases y figuras”, “metáforas”, “zeumaga [sic]” (= zeugma) , “eclipsis”, “sinalefa” (without specific title of this section) (133). Colophon: Soli deo honor, et Gloria in saecula saeculorum (134); índice de los libros, parágrafos de este Arte (no page numbers).
After the Table of Contents, the numbering starts again. As header of the page we find the term “distintos”. In this section (p. 1-3), we find an alphabetically arranged word-list Totonac-Spanish, in two columns. Some lemmas are also included in the second wordlist, devoted to the “Nombres de parentesco” (3-4) (the author is aware of this double recording, but he does not see this as a problem, they do not hurt, since the objective is learning: “los que fueren duplicados, no dañan, porque el fin es estudiar, para saber, y esto Non vix se saepe. Probably the author refers to the expression “non vi sed saepe cadendo” (“the drop erodes the stone” [Otto Zwartjes]); partes del cuerpo humano, sus accidentes, y enfermedades (alphabetically arranged word-list Spanish-Totonac; 5-7); manual de los Sacramentos (monolingual text in Totonac, with Spanish headers; 8-13); Confesonario breve en lengua totonaca, y castellana (Bilingual confessionary, arranged in columns and other text in Totonac with Castillian underneath; 13-47); another word lists for the body parts, which were found after the manuscript was sent to the publisher: “Estos distintos, de las partes del Cuerpo humano, se pasaron al tiempo de la Imprenta” (47-49).
Oraciones, y doctrina de la Cierra baja de Naolingo, Distintas de la Cierra alta de Papantla [the author of this section is Francisco Domínguez, “cura interino de Xalpam”] (p. 49-62), accompanied by a word list in three columns, on the left side Totonac (Variety of the Mountains “Sierra Alta”), in the middle “Romance”, and on the right “Sierra Baja”. The list is not alphabetic in any of these three languages/ varieties, but is thematically arranged, starting with heaven, followed by earth, human being, animals, elements, abstract words, body parts (again), and many equivalents for Spanish adverbs, although sometimes the Spanish section is arranged alphabetically, as p.73 (63-74); another trilingual word list for the verbs, not arranged alphabetically in none of the three languages (74-78). P. 78, Francisco Domínguez explains where some varieties are spoken and by whom. Other place names mentioned here are Miahuatlan and Atocpa (p. 79); Índice de los distintos nombres de parentesco, partes de el cuerpo, y del Manual de los Sacramentos, y modo de administrarlos (no page numbers).
Objectif de l'auteurIn the “aprobación” signed by Francisco Xavier Gómez, we read that the work was composed for both teachers and students (“aprender y enseñar”). One of the achievements of Zambrano Bonilla is how he has analysed the verbs and nouns (“haciendo anatomía de sus verbos, y nombres”) and he praises that he was able to follow Nebrija, “reducing” this language into this model. In his prologue, Zambrano Bonilla explains that he designed the first book in such a manner that he copied the Romance, which the learner should know when he studied “Minimus” (“en el primer libro hallarás el romance, que aprendiste cuando estudiaste Minimus”), probably the name given to those corresponding work used in Latin instruction for beginners. Zambrano only replaced the Latin by Totonac. Differences are explained in “Notas”, which serve as a tool, so that the learner has to learn less by heart (“para que tuvieras menos que estudiar de memoria”), making learning more pleasant (“y te fuera su estudio más agradable”). Latin text: “Brevis, et prudens sermo (dixo Origines et auditur libentius et atensius, et melius memoriae commendatur” (cited from “Ex doctrina Origenis homilia sexta, in librum Iudicum”).
Intérêt généralThe work is understudied to this day. Its importance is twofold; the history of descriptive linguistics, and history of Totonac and its variation in space and time (mainly in the contrastive word lists, contrasting Totonac from the “Sierra alta” with Romance en Totonac of the “Sierra baja” (“Distintos significados de la Totonacalpa, â la Totonaca de Naolingho” [second part, p. *63]). As we read in other contexts (Larramendi’s 1729 of his Basque grammar, Lo imposible vencido, “the impossible overcome”), we read in the “Parecer” of Joseph Manuel de Medina Coeli that this work has its merits, since it made the impossible possible. Before this grammar, its predecessor, which was in circulation for two centuries, is described as confusing, lacking the “lights”, and “rules” of a well-structured grammar. Previous missionaries had the opinion that it was an impossible task to write a grammar for this language, which they considered barbarian (“… la confusion que ha tenido este Idioma por mas de dos siglos, careciendo de sus luces los Principiantes por falta de reglas, o composición de un Arte… pues los antiguos Lenguarazes muy versados en el Idioma, tenian por imposible reducirla a Arte, teniendo esta Lengua por quasi Barbara”). Several aspects of his grammar are of considerable interest. Although phonology is understudied in the first section, as occurs usually (leaving apart some interesting comparisons with the languages of the “Gascones”, “Germanos”, “Batavos”, “Britanos”, “Franceses” in order to describe Totonac sounds and some articulatory descriptions of less familiar sounds [p. 3-4]), the author comes back to this topic in a special section, the fifth and final chapter on prosody where explains the use of “tones and accents” (just like in Nahuatl, in Totonac tones are non-existent as phonemic suprasegmentals, but the terminology “tonos” and “acentos” are copied from Carochi). The most interesting parts are related to (in)transitivity (p. 52), the “pronombres conjugativos” (p. 68), obligatory direct object marking (p. 68) (“El verbo activo pide la expresión del acusativo, por ser incierto, porque si digo Ycpaxquiy es menester decir á quein amo, si es á Dios, o a las riquezas.” [the active verb requires an expressed accusative]; see also p. 90), valency changes, particularly with applicative and causative verbs (p. 93-94) and finally, “incorporation” (“verbos compuestos, por llevar encerrada en el cuerpo del verbo la Nota de transición, o acusativo” [p. 70]; “todo verbo tiene acusativo, tácito o expreso, que declara, y manifiesta la acción que está encerrada en el mismo verbo, que es el acusativo, v.g. a ztacnan, ‘vivir’, se le entiende, lictana ‘la vida’” (p. 90), and phenomena which today are labelled as “polysynthetic” are of considerable interest (p. 74-75, “de la composición del verbo con nombres”). The author considered compound forms as one of the “harmonious” features of this language (“compónense verbos con verbos, y también con nombres preposiciones, adverbios, y partículas, porque muchas varían su significación, y muchos la modifican, en que está lo más harmonioso de la lengua”) (p. 55, also p. 71, the most graceful, harmonious and complex features of this language: “lo más garboso, harmonioso, y dificultoso de esta lengua totonaca”). Some features are similar to those in Nahuatl, but Totonac is more complex. Not only are person of subject, object and indirect object marked in the verb, but also instrument, accompaniment, location and action toward or away from someone. Totonac exceeds Nahuatl also in number of affixes by at least one third (Suárez 1983, p. 64; Troiani 2007, p. 71-85). Although the author does not mention his sources explicitly, he could have benefitted – directly or indirectly – from grammars of Nahuatl in which comparable areal features were studied and described, mainly the marking of objects in the verb, causative and applicative verbs. Nebrija’s model was in fact not sufficiently equipped for the description of these features. Nahuatl grammars could also have served as model for the distinction between animate and inanimate (“cosas animadas, cosas inanimadas”, p. 62), the first which can be pluralized, opposed to the second who do not have a plural form. Due to the influence of Spanish, plural forms occur which were not used in the older days, according to the author (chihuixni ‘piedras’ [stones]). It is remarkable that we find a similar observation regarding Nahuatl in the grammar of Manuel Pérez: “Adviertase que todos los que no son de cosas animadas, no tienen Plural, según el origen del Idioma; pero como el dia de oy están amoldados al nuestro, suelen pluralizarlos, aunque sean de cosas inanimadas” (Pérez 1713, p. 5), not in Rincón (1595, f. 4).
Parties du discoursEight parts of speech. According to the author, the first four of the eight Latin categories, the parts of speech, have a number (“las cuatro primeras, tienen números, y el verbo, números y personas”, p. 48), as in Latin. P. 59 we find the complete list: Nombre, Pronombre, Verbo, Participio, Preposición, Adverbio, Interjección, conjunción (also p. 62). On the other hand, Zambrano Bonilla observes that the interjection is in fact not a part of speech (“La interjección en rigor no es parte de la oración”, p. 64), but he does not decide to eliminate this part of speech, since it is “common to all Nations” (“común a todas las Naciones”). The author also gives usually definitions for each part of speech (p. 48-49). Only two “concordancias” are distinguished: between nominative and verb, and between substantive and adjective” (p. 49). Zambrano includes the interjection in the list of parts of speech, but elsewhere he observes this is in fact not a part of speech (p. 64).
Innovations term.Nombres similitudinarios (p. 6).
Semipronombres adherentes a nombres (p. 8, 68). The author give a definition of the term. They do not “signify” by themselves, but they are combined with verbs, giving them a different meaning, tenses and in order “to differentiate” their roots (“porque ellos por sí, sin el comercio de las demás partes de la oración, no significan”, “agentes de los verbos con quienes necesariamente se acompañan, porque los llamamos adherentes a verbos, y porque sin ellos no significan... sirven de regir a los tiempos, y de diferenciarlos de sus raíces”; p. 89).
Semiverbos. Here also a definition is given: They do not signify by themselves, but they receive their meaning in combination with other verbs” (“que por sí solos no tienen significación alguna, quando se juntan con otros verbos, la reciben de ellos”, p. 44).
Semiposesivos (p. 63).
– Noticias with the specific meaning of “voice” or “diathesis” (see below).
Raíz (rayz, p. 32).
Raíz principalísima (first person present tense, indicative, p. 46)
Conjugativos (p. 68) and semipronombres conjugativos (p. 10), as in Carochi (1645, f. 14v; Zwartjes, 2016, p. 57).
Nombres extravagantes (p. 7, 54). Example a compound form, Nacohuixanat “flor de corazón”, analysed as naco + the “ligature” huix + anat” (p. 83).
– Distinction animate and inanimate (“cosas animadas/cosas inanimadas”, p. 62).
Ligadura (p. 65; Rincón has “ligatura”).
Nota de transición (p. 70; as in Rincón’s gammar).
Nota de absoluto (p. 93).
Compulsivo absoluto. Here, a definition is given: it has an accusative but it is not obligatorily expressed” (“que tiene acusativo, no es menester expresarlo”, p. 93).
– Some specific terms for the particles. The following are distinguished: [partícula] interrogativa, dubitativa, inquisitiva, redarguitiva, y alternative (“en todo parecida a la dicción an Latina… An fiduciam habes in Egypto? Y en la Totonaca…”).
Nominales mixtos (p. 98), an interesting term for combination of Spanish loans and Totonac words (“muchos [verbos nominales, y adverbiales] se componen con nombres castellanos, porque les llamaremos nominales mixtos: como Testigohmoniy, Santo noniy, Santamaniy, y más usados Santonohnon, Santanahnan…”, p. 98-99).
Corpus illustratifTotonac. Often the examples are not translated, but the author did this on purpose, as we can read p. 134: “no hemos dado a algunas vozes sus significados, ha sido por no abultar esta obra” (“they take up a lot of space”).
Indications compl.
Influence subieNebrija is mentioned in the title and also p. 131 in the chapter devoted to prosody. When Zambrano Bonilla states that the interjection is in fact not a part of speech (“La interjección en rigor no es parte de la oración, porque no es voz, ni palabra, sono solo señal de afecto, común a todas las Naciones”; p. 64), he was probably influenced by Sanctius’ grammar, where the interjection is not a part of speech, since they are universal or “natural for all human beings, Minerva (1587, f. 11); see also Correas (1954 [1625], p. 335) and Ramajo Caño (1987, p. 209). In the first section on orthography (p. 2) we find references to Isidorus of Seville, Suetonius and Pierre Grégoire (Petrus Gregorius Tholosanus, Gregorio Tolosano, who was a French jurist (ca. 1540-1597) (Zambrano Bonilla was a lawyer). Horacio Carochi is also mentioned. He was the author of an Otomi grammar, which is considered to have been lost, but the author refers to his grammar of Nahuatl in the section on accentuation and prosody (p. 126). (“El doctísimo Padre Carochi, confiesa, que es, más que difícil, porque es casi imposible, el conocimiento de las cantidades de la lengua Mexicana”; Carochi, f. 126v).
Following the terminology of Carochi (and Nebrija), the author used both terms “accentus” and “tono”. Of the latter, three classes are distinguished, as in Carochi (“tres géneros de tonos”, p. 128), grave acute and the circumflex representing the little jump (“saltillo”), a term which generally accepted in grammars of Otomí and Náhuatl. Zambrano Bonilla also mentions two names of predecessors, describing Totonac: Pinelo and Zurita (p. 134), who are not mentioned by any other source (they are not included for instance in the overview of Morales Lara 2008), but he explicitly informs his readers that they did not have any impact on his grammar, since he decided not to follow them (“no nos ha parecido seguirlos, por llevar nosotros distinto rumbo”, p. 134). It is also remarkable that Zambrano Bonilla does not mention any other grammarian or lexicographer who described Totonac, such as the works written by the Franciscans Andrés de Olmos, who also composed the earliesty extant grammar of Nahuatl, Francisco de Toral, Cristóbal Díaz Anaya and Eugenio Romero, who possibly was the author of the anonymous grammar published by Norman McQuown (1990; for more details and complete titles, see Morales Lara 2008). Although Zambrano Bonilla does not mention them by name, he calls them the ancient grammarians (“antiguos gramáticos”; p. 2). Carochi is the only grammarian who has been mentioned by name, but it is very likely that Zambrano Bonilla was familiar with other grammars of Nahuatl (or possibly, some grammars of Otomi as well). It is difficult to ascertain if he could have used the grammar of Antonio del Rincón (1595), since his work was the foundation of Carochi’s grammar, but there are some striking similarities with Manuel Pérez’s grammar of Nahuatl (1713). On the first place, the structure of the fourth book, containing chapters with numbered "Notas" is almost identical to the section entitled "Notas necesarias" in the second Book of Pérez's grammar (as in Vetancurt's section entitled "Notas a cerca del Syntaxis" in the fourth book of his grammar. If we compare some definitions, we can conclude that they are quite similar.
(1) Zambrano Bonilla uses the term “pronombres conjugativos”, as in Pérez (1713, p. 12).
(2) “Las Noticias, y Oraciones” (Pérez 1713, p. 18). Zambrano Bonilla uses the term “noticia” with a specific meaning, as synonym of “oración” (“Las noticias, u oraciones son cuatro: dos de activa, y dos de pasiva”, p. 50). Four different “noticias” are distinguished: two for the active, two for the passive. The first active is a transitive verb with subject an indirect object (“trae nominativo de persona que haze; verbo, y acusativo de persona que padece”; ex. “El Maestro enseña á los niños”); the second active has only a nominative/ agent and a verb, or with an absolute verb (“el maestro enseña”). The first passive has a nominative of the person/ agent, and an ablative with preposition (“La primera de pasiva trae nominativo de persona que padece, y verbo, y ablativo con preposición… los niños son enseñados por el Maestro”,and the second passive only has a nominative / patient, and a verb (“trae solamente nominativo de persona que padece: los niños son enseñados”; p. 51-52). If we compare this fragment with the corresponding section of Pérez (1713, p. 18), called “noticias”, we see that they are similar: “Las Oraciones en este Idioma son solo tres: Dos de Activa, y vna de Passiva. La primera de Activa es, como en el Latin Nominativo de persona que haze: Verbo y Acusativo de persona que padece. Ug. Ego amo Petrum. Nehuatl nictlazotla in Pedro. La segunda, es tambien como la Latina, de Nominativo de persona que haze, y Verbo: como Ego amo. Nehuatl nitetlazotla. La de Passiva, es de Nominativo de persona que padece, y Verbo: como Ego doceor. Nehuatl ni machtilo”. This description is not taken from Carochi’s or Rincón’s grammars.
(3) Zambrano Bonilla deals with the non existence of gender distinction in Totonac (p. 48-49) as follows: “No tiene géneros como la latina, empero ay muichos nombres, que por sola su significaci’on son masculinos, o femeninos, como Huixcana ‘ el var’on’; Pazcat ‘ la hembra’ y comunes a tres” (p. 48-49), and Manuel Pérez’s rules are quite similar (1713, p. 53): “Los nombres en este idioma no tienen generos, y solo se distinguen en aplicarles este nombre Oquichtli por ‘el varon’, y Ciuatl por ‘la hembra’, al modo q[ue] en el latin Aquila más. Aquila faemina. Oquichpiltontli es ‘el muchacho’, Ciuapiltontli ‘la muchacha’.”
(4) The use of the term “extravagantes” in both grammars (Pérez 1713, p. 4 and Zambrano Bonilla, p. 54). In the religious texts, we find also a reference to Nahuatl texts, but when the translations into Totonac are given, the author informs his readers that he decided to do it differently (“Aunque el Manual en Mexicano no pone la forma de Absolución de la Bulla de la Santa Cruzada, la pongo en Totonaco, no tanto porque la usen, como por los Indios, para que la oigan conoscan, crean, y le cobren amor, y reverencia, para que no le llamen xhueylegue, que quiere decir trapo Viejo, o estropajo”; p. 35).
Influence exercéeThere are no more extant grammars which were produced after Zambrano Bonilla’s during the colonial period.
Renvois bibliographiquesAlarcos García E. (éd.) 1954 {[1625]}; Alvar López M. 1994; Carochi H. 1892 {[1645]}; Domínguez F. 1837; Larramendi M. de 1729; Mackay C. J. & Trechsel F. R. 2015; McQuown N. A. (éd.) 1990 {[Anonymous, end 16th]}; Morales Lara S. 2008; Pérez M. 1713; Ramajo Caño A. 1987; Rincón A. del 1595; Sanctius F. 1587; Suárez J. A. 1983; Troiani D. 2007; Vetancurt A. de 1673; Zambrano Bonilla J. 1752; Zambrano Bonilla J. 1753; Zwartjes O. (éd.) 2009 {Melchor Oyanguren de Santa Inés [1738]}; Zwartjes O. (éd.) 2010 {Melchor Oyanguren de Santa Inés [1738, 1742]}; Zwartjes O. 2016
Rédacteur

Zwartjes, Otto

Création ou mise à jour2018-12