Here we will talk about how to use and create demonyms (gentilicios) in Nawat from what is now El Salvador.

-Chanej

The suffix –chanej is added to toponyms as follows: x-chanej, xchanej. X being any given town/city/country. to create a word that essentially means “dweller, resident, or a person from x.” Typically this is only used for towns or cities, and often they are already in Nawat. For instance, a person that is from Kuskatan (the territory of Nahuas in what is today Western and Central El Salvador) is a Kuskatanchanej. Santo Domingo de Guzman is referred to as Witzapan in Nawat, and a person from this town would be a Witzapanchanej.

Examples

The noun -chan (which is unalienable, thus must always be possessed) means home. Thus nuchan, would be “my house.” Tuchan, “our house,” and techan “people’s house, or town.” For demonyms -chanej functions to show that whatever town, say x, is that person’s home. To say you are from a place, you say, “Naja nixchanej.”

Plural

Pluralizing demonyms is pretty simple as well. You simply add -ket as the terminal suffix to the word. For instance, xchanej, a person from x, would become xchanejket when more friends arrive.