Pronunciation of Chattan?

[Cygnus]

In the x: Mekhiko

Only for those that don't speak like the natives. It has the Mexica (Aztec) pronunciation of meh-HEE-coh.

But that is a just a wee bit off topic.

EDIT: My point was to say that I've never heard natives pronounce the "x" in "Mexico" as anything but an "h" sound, and I know plenty of them. That's not to say, though, that the "x" wasn't a "kh" sound in the Nahuatl languages prior to the Spanish influence.

[ThistleDown]

Only for those that don't speak like the natives. It has the Mexica (Aztec) pronunciation of meh-HEE-coh.

But that is a just a wee bit off topic.

Yes, and no, Brian. I think we are still addressing the OP's question when we bring in similar variations in other languages in support of points in our own discussion.

Rex

[Morris at Heathfield]

Only for those that don't speak like the natives. It has the Mexica (Aztec) pronunciation of meh-HEE-coh.

But that is a just a wee bit off topic.

EDIT: My point was to say that I've never heard natives pronounce the "x" in "Mexico" as anything but an "h" sound, and I know plenty of them. That's not to say, though, that the "x" wasn't a "kh" sound in the Nahuatl languages prior to the Spanish influence.

You're right. Theoretically, the Spanish j, g (before i and e), and x (when it isn't pronounced like Latin x), are all pronounced like the ch in "loch", but my trusty Spanish dictionary notes that that sound is pronounced more like English "h" in the Central American countries. (It doesn't say anything one way or another about its pronunciation in Mexico.)

As for the Nahuatl and other Indian languages, it's my understanding that the letter x in Spanish was pronounced much like English sh at the time the Spaniards arrived, and so was used to spell that same sound in those languages. Later, as the sound changed to "kh" in Spanish, the spelling was often changed to j. This is evident in the name of Texas, for example, which is now spelled "Tejas" in Spanish.

And I agree that the constituent clans of Clan Chattan should be permitted to march together. I imagine the objection is that the clans normally appear in nice, orderly, alphabetical order, and grouping up the constituent clans of Clan Chattan would throw off that order.