Languages of Mexico

1 including Opata, Soltec and Papabucan

Mexico is among the countries with the largest number of indigenous languages. In addition to Spanish, which is de facto the only official language, Mexico since 2003 legally recognizes 62 indigenous languages ​​as " national languages ​​" ( lenguas internacionales ) to. According to the " National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples " Mexico (CDI ) are classified 13 % of the population as indigenous, although the last census in 2000 only showed 7.1% of the total population are native speakers of indigenous languages ​​and less than 1% of monolingual Indigenous.

The main indigenous languages ​​of Mexico

The most spoken indigenous languages ​​are Nahuatl, with over 1.6 million ( spread over several states ) and Mayathan ( Maya on the Yucatán Peninsula ) with almost 900,000 speakers. There are a total of 16 indigenous languages ​​with more than 100,000 speakers in Mexico, more than in any other country in the Americas.

History

Before the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards more than a hundred languages ​​are spoken in the area of ​​present-day Mexico. Some of them had more than regional importance as a trade language. The Nahuatl was passed through several waves of immigration from the north to central Mexico and was supported by the advanced civilizations of the Toltecs, the Tepanecs and finally the Mexica ( Aztecs ) for prestige language in Mesoamerica. Important cultural and full written languages ​​in the cultural space of the Maya ( Yucatan, Central America) were the Mayathan and Chol in the area of ​​today's Oaxaca Mixtec and Zapotec as the lingua franca in turn were important.

After the Conquest the Nahuatl was initially preferred as the mission language and so - to a limited extent - more widespread. This was driven by a decree of Philip II of Spain in 1570 to make Nahuatl the official language in New Spain for communication between whites and Indians. Over a century later, in 1696, Charles II of Spain issued a decree that only Spanish have to be the official language in the Spanish colonial empire.

However, the accelerated decline of indigenous languages ​​began after the independence of Mexico, as the ruling Creoles, through continued their language, Spanish as an official language. So will 1820 still about 60 % of the population spoke indigenous languages, while in 1889 the proportion according to the geographer Antonio García Cubas had already fallen to 38%. The 2000 census showed a content of nurmehr 7.1%. The data from this census that many indigenous languages ​​of Mexico are endangered because they are learned by only a few children. This is - at least in large parts of this language area - even for the "big" indigenous languages ​​such as Nahuatl, and Otomi Mayathan.

The realization of the right to education for all, but only in the official language Spanish, after the Mexican revolution and the social advancement should also facilitated thereby have contributed to the acceleration of assimilation. Until very recently, the stated goal of the Mexican government was (as well as other Latin American countries ) the hispanisation the indigenous population, which was also seen as "liberation from the backwardness ". It is however important to note that censuses regularly the knowledge of a language is denied with little prestige and thus low numbers of indigenous languages ​​are determined ( underreporting ).

A turning point in official policy represent the 1990s, in which for the first time at international level in America, the so-called intercultural bilingual education ( Educación Intercultural Bilingüe, EIB or EBI) was discussed. For these years, is the definition in the second article of the Mexican Constitution that Mexico is a multicultural nation and the right of indigenous peoples recognize, " to preserve their languages ​​and enrich ..." and the State would facilitate the EIB.

In 2003, the Mexican parliament passed the " General Law on the Linguistic Rights of Indigenous Peoples ", the Spanish and the indigenous languages ​​of Mexico due to its historical background, recognized as " national languages ​​" and the indigenous languages ​​"has the same validity in their territory, Location and Context" zusprach. On the basis of this law Indigenous official documents may submit and request in their language. The state is thus subject to the preservation and promotion of the use of national languages ​​by the activity of the "Institute for Indigenous Languages ​​."

With about ten million speakers of indigenous languages ​​Mexico has the second largest absolute number of indigenous speakers in America to Peru. In percentage terms, it is, however, after Paraguay ( Guaraní over 90%), Bolivia ( 60 %), Guatemala ( 42.8 %), Peru (35%), Ecuador (9.4%) and Panama (8.3 %) only in seventh place.

Vitality of indigenous languages ​​of Mexico

The vitality of a language can be measured by the extent to which they by their parents (or grandparents) will be passed on to the children. In this regard, there are strong differences between the indigenous languages ​​in Mexico. Overall, the absolute number of speakers of indigenous languages ​​will still be, but decreases their share of the total population, since this growing faster. In some languages ​​- including important languages ​​such as Otomi and Maya Than - has decreased between 2000 and 2010, the absolute number of target languages ​​. For some others it takes almost all children due to very high birth rates and the dissemination of the language itself, the percentage of the total population significantly. These include the Tzotzil and Tzeltal Mayan languages ​​in Chiapas, but also smaller languages ​​such as the Uto-Aztecan language of the Huichol and Tarahumara in the Sierra Madre Occidental.

From a speaker decline particular languages ​​are concerned, which are spoken in economically transport network is well developed areas, such as in parts of central Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula, while languages ​​are also spoken today in remote areas of many more children. Follow this pattern over many from each remote areas spread Nahuatl, which is in Mexico City only spoken by a few old people whose number of speakers falling in many areas near the capital, with in more remote areas such as in Guerrero contrast to the indigenous languages the highest growth rates counts.

Maps

Swell

• Indigenous Culture in Central America
• Language group
• Indigenous languages ​​of the Americas
• Culture ( Mexico)