http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Rv3ZUHTU6yg/SDx2vtNLmoI/AAAAAAAAAD8/mMrdXtUnmjA/s1600/nahuatl%2Bmayo27.gif
Some Náhuatl alphabet symbols.

In general the náhuatl allows single vowel syllables (V) optionally preceded by one consonant (C) and also optionally followed by another consonant (C). Thus the syllabic pattern is (C)V(C). From all the permitted combinations in this pattern the most common (and the favorite) is CV, but there are also CVC, VC and V syllables.

There are no consonant combinations in a syllable; this means that in náhuatl there are no CCV or VCC patterns at the beginning or at the end of a syllable. There should be CC combinations only inside a word, and this is only because the two consonants belong to a different syllables, (C)VC and CV(C) patterns. Three consonant combinations (CCC) never happened.

The Spanish language has always been social and politically dominant in Mexico during almost 500 years. It is very natural in this kind of situation that other languages learn from the dominant one and start to use words from it, mixing it with their mother tongue. Especially when one culture has artifacts or concepts that did not exist in the other, it is common to borrow the corresponded words from the neighboring tongue instead of creating a new one. This is a natural aspect that happens when tongues become in contact with each other.

In this case too, the dominant tongue also borrows from the other tongue; there are a lot of "aztequeisms" or "mexicanisms" in the Spanish language, especially in the Mexican Spanish. There are some words like tomate (tomato), chocholate and coyote, from náhuatl (xi)tomatl, xocolātl, coyōtl, which has truly become worldly words used in many languages. The tongue which did not borrow becomes a dead tongue.
Source(s):
http://www.sil.org/mexico/nahuatl/00e-Nahuatl.htm

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