The Vowel System of Mösiehuali

(Tetelcingo Nahuatl)

The vowel system of Mösiehuali (Tetelcingo Nahuatl or Aztec) is particularly interesting because the historical distinction of length has been changed into other phonetic differences which are easier to hear. For the high vowels (i and o) the "long" variant is more tense or close, and for the low vowels it is a diphthong.

(Compare the general vowel chart for Nahuatl.)

The sound [I] (the "short i" sound of bit), which corresponds to the short i of other Nahuatl dialects, is sometimes pronounced so open as to nearly be an [e]. In the orthography used in the Vocabulario mexicano de Tetelcingo it is written as an underlined i, i.e. i. (It has also been written with a barred-i, ɨ.) The diphthong [ⁱe] is the sound that is written ie in Pierre or in Spanish words like piedra "stone". The other vowels are pronounced like their Spanish equivalents, except for the diphthong [ɔ] (which corresponds to the long a ([ā]) of other dialects). This vowel is like much like the aw sound of raw (in those English dialects that distinguish that sound from a, distinguishing e.g. paw [pɔ] from pa [pa]). In the Vocabulario it is written ö. (It has also been written ä.)

--David Tuggy

The Mösiehuali speaker whose voice is heard illustrating the vowel sounds is Trinidad Ramírez Amaro.

See also:

• A greeting in Mösiehuali
• See how to build the following long word in Mösiehuali: nehualmoyecastemojmolunijtzinutinemisquiöni.
• Mösiehuali consonants
• Spanish borrowings in Mösiehuali
• Mösiehuali honorifics

• Nahuatl vowels
• Syllables and accent in Nahuatl
• Nahuatl orthographies

• Vocabulario mexicano de Tetelcingo
• Richard S. Pittman's "The Phonemes of Tetelcingo (Morelos) Nahuatl" gives more information about the vowels and consonants of Mösiehuali.