Arte de lengua mexicana Vazquez Gastelu, Antonio

The aim was to compose a grammar which should be as brief as possible, and the most accessible for absolute beginners, which might explain its success (four editions appeared after the editio princeps. The aims are also expressed in the final section, entitled “Conclusion de el Arte” (f. 32r-v). Working people of the lower class speak improperly (“imperfectamente”) and their manners of speaking contain many “incongruidades”. The reason for writing the Arte, according to the author, all learners are taught to speak perfectly, “subjected to “rules”. The work had its pedagogical value in that time, but for a historian of linguistics, the work is less original and there is not much theory included.