Resources needed for pronunciation of Mayan/Incan/Aztec names.

by cldavies

Hello all. I'm a podcaster who plans to do an episode on pre-Columbian astronomical traditions of the civilizations of Central and South America. The names of people, place and things are really throwing me for a loop. Can anyone offer some pronunciation resources? Thanks in advance!

Pachacamac

Can you post some examples of the words you are struggling with? At least for the Inka/South America, for me. I don't know any specific resources, though I'm sure they're out there, but the Quechua/Aymara names were written in Spanish and generally follow Spanish pronunciation, but some of those are tricky too. There can also be multiple ways to spell the same thing so sometimes you can interchange the one that seems weirder to English speakers (e.g. hua/gua) with one that is more familiar (e.g. wa. Huari=Wari, pronounced "war-ee." Tihuanaco=Tiwanaku, pronounced "tee-wan-ah-koo").

But one big pet peeve for me: Incan is never used. I don't know why, but it isn't. It is only ever Inca, plural Incas. Thus it is the Inca empire, Inca aesthetics, there were approximately 40,000 ethnic Incas, etc. My understanding is that "Mayan" is OK but there are differences between when you talk about Maya as a language, Maya as a modern indigenous ethnic group, and Maya as a time period in the past. I think that you refer to the language as "Mayan" but the people and period as Maya but don't quote me on that.

Edit: I just realized that this lacks the sources and whatnot for a top-level comment but I'm more asking for clarification than anything so that I can be of more assistance. I can dig around for sources if needed.