Anthropologist Jonathan Amith is on a quest to create the most extensive Nahuatl language resource, a journey that has so far lasted more than 20 years.

Amith conducts his work among Nahuatl communities in Mexico, where 1.5 million people still speak the language. But like other indigenous languages, it has slowly fallen out of use in favor of Spanish, or in favor of English as Native speakers immigrate to the United States.

So Amith has been busy recording every day words, stories and other tidbits of Nahua knowledge. He has created a web site to document his work.

Most Nahua speakers live in central Mexico, where the Aztec civilization flourished.

Get the Story:
Scholar's Dictionary Of Aztec Language May Take a Lifetime (The Wall Street Journal 2/24)

Relevant Links:
Nahuatl Learning Environment - http://www.balsas-nahuatl.com
Ethnologue - http://www.ethnologue.com