Abstract

GALEOTE, Manuel  and  FIGUEROA-SAAVEDRA, Miguel. MISSIONARY BILINGUAL LEXICOGRAPHY IN NEW SPAIN: THE VOCABULARY LIST IN NAHUATL-CASTILIAN OF 1571. Anu. let. lingüíst. filol. [online]. 2019, vol.7, n.2, pp.5-32.  Epub Nov 29, 2021. ISSN 2448-8224.  https://doi.org/10.19130/iifl.adel.7.2.2019.1550.

The lexicographical works of the Franciscan missionary team is culminated with the Vocabvlario en lengva mexicana y castellana (Mexico, 1571), with Alonso de Molina leading it, and which Bernardino de Sahagún had promoted as early as 1555. Previously, Andrés de Olmos had already put together a corpus of texts by authorized authors to achieve a complete vocabulary of the Nahuatl language. The Franciscan paradigm followed the path of Olmos, but he outlined the nuances of the meaning and use of the glossed words. The missionaries were urged to compose speeches (sermons, pláticas) and to distribute written documents that were correct and respectful following the grammatical norms of Nahuatl. The two Castilian-Nahuatl vocabularies (1555, 1571) were previous attempts of Molina. They are qualitatively and quantitatively different from what Olmos produced. But in this Mexican-Spanish vocabulary, Molina demonstrated his ability as a lexicographer and grammarian, especially given his publications of the Arte de la lengua mexicana in the same year 1571. From the point of view of the lexicographical microstructure, fray Alonso explained verb construction as well as he did with noun or adverb. In alphabetical order, the verbs include prefixes and the modification of the root in the perfect form. With a more practical alphabetical ordering of the entries, the search and integration of the morphosyntactic characteristics of the agglutinating language was made easier. The final step of the historic Franciscan project was to print this lexicographical work, conceived as the “provecho del prójimo”, which contained an abundance of grammatical information, proving useful as a tool for translation and instruction, surpassing previous work as as “mejor declarar cada vocablo de la lengua” náhuatl.

Keywords : lexicography; missionary linguistics; bilingual vocabulary; Nahuatl language; New Spain; Alonso de Molina.

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