UNA APROXIMACIÓN A LA NOMENCLATURA TRADICIONAL DE LAS AVES COMUNES DE XALITLA, GUERRERO, MÉXICO

Abstract

An inventory of the common birds of the town of Xalitla, municipality of Tepecuacuilco of Trujano, Guerrero, was made. Through observation in the field by walking through routes without estimating distance. A total of 86 bird species were recorded, grouped taxonomically into 16 orders, 30 families and 73 genera, and photographic records were made of the birds in the field. Descriptive sheets were prepared for each species considering the distinctive morphological attributes of each taxon. Based on the photographs and the descriptive sheets, a group of four key informants, one of them a local specialist in the Nahuatl language, all Nahuatl speakers and knowledgeable about the birds in the field, wrote down the traditional Nahuatl name by which each species has been historically and currently identified in the locality. The traditional written names were corroborated by two other bilingual Nahuatl speakers. Based on the meaning of the traditional names, we analyzed the possible categories used for their construction, which define the identity of each bird species. The most important distinguishing attributes used to name the different species are: size, color, shape of some anatomical part of the bird, place where they frequent to feed, similarity with the color of the fruit of plants commonly used by the community. As well as the concepts of sacred, agoraphic or mythological birds, their ability to imitate sounds, the onomatopoeia of their voice and particular patterns of avian behavior. Traditional names are annotated based on the standardized spelling of the Nahuatl language.