Classical Nahuatl displays a bundle of morphosyntactic features which together form what the author suggests to call the omnipredicative type. In this type, the syntactic hub of the sentence is its informative part (call it comment, focus or rheme according to the terminological tradition), be it a verb, a noun or any kind of word. Although they behave similarly from a syntactic point of view, the different "parts of speech" nonetheless keep their other distinctive characteristics. This article gives evidence for such an analysis, and shows how omnipredicativity challenges some deep rooted conceptions about word order and makes inapplicable some notions such as the pro-drop parameter and WH-movement. In its final part, it points out a list of eleven apparently independent features which together reinforce the type and make Nahuatl a prototypical omnipredicative language, before opening into wider questions about predication.

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Now available to an English-speaking audience, this book is a comprehensive grammar of classical Nahuatl, the literary language of the Aztecs. It offers students of Nahuatl a complete and clear treatment of the language's structure, grammar and vocabulary. It is divided into 35 chapters, beginning with basic syntax and progressing gradually to more complex structures. Each grammatical concept is illustrated clearly with examples, exercises and passages for translation. A key is provided to allow students to check their answers. By far the most approachable textbook of Nahuatl available, this book will be an excellent teaching tool both for classroom use and for readers pursuing independent study of the language. It will be an invaluable resource to anthropologists, ethnographers, historians, archaeologists and linguists alike.