Talk:Tezozomoc (Azcapotzalco)

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Add what the primary sources say about Tayauh. (He's absent from the Cronica mexicayotl.)
Priority 6  

[edit] Diacritics

Why is the redirection from Tezozómoc to Tezozomoc? All of my sources include the accent, and other Wikipedia articles on Mexican indigenous personages include accents. --Rbraunwa 20:16, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

There was a discussion--I can't remember on which talkpage--that decided that Nahuatl names should not have accents since Natualt orthography does not use them. Spanish language sources use them so that they fit into the scheme of Spanish pronunciation, but that's no reason for us to use them in English. Your sources are in Spanish, I presume?--Rockero 20:47, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
Hi Rockero, I'm curious what your position was on this question. It seems wrong to me, for the following reasons:
  • Of course the precolumbian Nahuatl did not use Spanish accents to write their words. But the accents now are guides not to their writing, but to their pronunciation. "Tezozómoc" says more about the precolumbian pronunciation than does "Tezozomoc". It seems to me it makes no more sense to omit the acccent because the Nahuatl did not use it than to omit the underlying vowel for that reason.
  • The Nahuatl before the conquest did not use Spanish accents or characters. But what about current-day Nahuatl speakers? I'm guessing they spell this name "Tezozómoc", accent and all.
  • English has no rule requiring us to drop the accents in loan words. It's true that frequently happens, but certainly not always, and it's less likely to happen in names. I checked the Encyclopædia Britannica for comparison. They have no article on Tezozómoc, and I couldn't find the name in other articles. For other Nahuatl names, EB is not consistent, but they more often include the accent than drop it. This suggests to me that English usage is also inconsistant, and that Wikipedia would not be violating any rule of English by including the extra information contained in the accent.
  • Academic researchers, whether native speakers of English, Spanish, or any other language, will need to consult the Spanish sources to investigate these individuals. Why make this kind of reader consult an outside source to determine how to spell this proper name in Spanish? It's not even possible to search for it in the Spanish Wikipedia without knowing where to put the accent. The English article doesn't even have "(Spanish: Tezozómoc)". At the very least it should include that in the first line.
Rbraunwa 13:08, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
Here is a recent posting on the matter:Talk:Nahuatl language#About the accent marks . . .--Rockero 05:56, 7 July 2006 (UTC)