Discourses of Maya Language Promotion in Yucatán
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From Language Revalorisation to Language Revitalisation? Discourses of Maya Language Promotion in Yucatán Josep Cru Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Modern Languages, Newcastle University August 2014 Abstract Against the background of worldwide processes of language abandonment that are taking place at an unprecedented and rapid pace, in the last two decades language revitalisation has become an ever more prominent area of academic research. This thesis looks at the ideological underpinnings of Yucatec Maya language promotion in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, based on the discourses of both official institutions and grassroots actors. After introducing the historical processes that have led to the present sociolinguistic minorisation of speakers of Maya in the Yucatán Peninsula, I analyse salient themes for language policy and planning pointed out by activists and institutions. Both official and grassroots discourses gathered in the field overwhelmingly revolve around the key concepts of revalorisation and rescate. These notions undergird the strategies that most participants consider as necessary for Maya language promotion, namely, the drafting of specific language legislation; the use of Maya in the education system; and an emphasis on the development of literacy in Maya. While policies in these areas may have a positive impact on raising the status and public profile of Maya and may lead to its legitimation, I argue that they present considerable limitations for actual revitalisation, which I believe should be part of a wider sociopolitical movement coming from the grassroots. On the one hand, vertical language policies that emanate from official institutions, the school being a prominent one, have been central in the cultural and linguistic assimilation to Spanish of indigenous peoples in Mexico. On the other hand, institutional policies that replicate the essentialist tenets of hegemonic languages on minorised languages, such as standardisation, actually devalue plurilingual and mixed practices on the ground and raise the issue of purism, which in the case of Yucatán may be contributing to language shift to Spanish and hindering the revitalisation process. Seen as an alternative and complementary project that comes above all from the ground up, I maintain that grassroots language promotion beyond institutional settings and control is effectively working towards the revitalisation of Maya. Along these lines, the use of this language in social media and modern music genres by youths, as part of their expanding communicative repertoires and heteroglossic practices on the ground, is opening up promising spaces for its maintenance and reproduction. i Epigraph Ma’ su’utsil a t’anik maayai’ Su’utsil ma’ a t’anik. [No es vergonzoso hablar maya Es vergonzoso no hablarla.] [It is not shameful to speak Maya It is shameful not to speak it]. Posted on Facebook by Santa Elena Yucatán (7 October 2012). ii Acknowledgements There are many institutions and people that have supported me in one form or another throughout this PhD without whose help it would have been impossible to complete the project. First of all, I would like to thank both the Institut Ramon Llull and the School of Modern Languages at Newcastle University for offering me the possibility to teach Catalan in the North East while undertaking a doctoral degree. I would also like to thank the support of the Newcastle University Santander International Exchange Programme for fieldwork in Mexico. The help and advice I have received throughout these years from colleagues at the School of Modern Languages have always been stimulating. I owe special gratitude to my supervisors Professor Rosaleen Howard and Dr Peter Sercombe. Every meeting with them has been a particularly fruitful occasion to get invaluable feedback that has enormously expanded both my knowledge of sociolinguistics and academic writing. Their continuous guidance and support to this project has been fundamental for its development and completion. With Professor Rosaleen Howard I have also had the pleasure to share several seminars both in the UK and Mexico, which have allowed me to grow as an academic through encounters with wonderful colleagues involved in language revitalisation in Latin America. Also, a million thanks go to Jane Freeland and Sheila Aikman, my PhD examiners from whom I received precious feedback. This thesis would just have not been possible either without the input and help from people in Yucatán. To begin with, the support and encouragement of friends such as José Antonio Flores Farfán and Flor Canché have been instrumental for this project. I am especially grateful to all participants who were willing to share their time and opinions on the situation of Maya in Yucatán and, particularly, to Yazmín Novelo, Rossana Ek, José Durán, César Can, Ana Patricia Martínez Huchim, and Ligia Peláez for their warmth and generosity not just while in Yucatán but also afterwards. Their insights and guidance have been particularly important for this thesis. Infinite gratitude goes to Flor’s family in Mérida and Timucuy and, particularly, to Doña Maria Justa Teh. Being able to share with them their everyday lives has been an unforgettable experience. Hopefully I will be able to reciprocate their hospitality beyond measure when they visit me in Europe. Finally, a million thanks, hugs, and kisses to my family and to Montse for their support and love. iii Table of Contents ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................... I EPIGRAPH .................................................................................................................................... II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................................... III TABLE OF CONTENTS .........................................................................................................................IV LIST OF TABLES, MAPS, AND PICTURES ......................................................................................... VIII CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research Questions .................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Participants and Institutions ....................................................................................... 6 1.3 Ethical Issues and Positionality of the Researcher ................................................... 11 1.4 Research Methods and Methodology ....................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND DISCUSSION OF KEY TERMINOLOGY .............. 20 2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 20 2.2 Ideologies and Discourses ........................................................................................ 20 2.3 Language Policy and Planning ................................................................................. 23 2.4 Language Maintenance, Revitalisation, and Documentation ................................... 26 2.5 Language Endangerment and Language Death ........................................................ 28 Evolution of the field: obsolescence, shift, endangerment, and death ...................... 30 The wake-up call of the early 1990s ......................................................................... 34 Popular works on language death at the turn of the century ................................... 38 UNESCO and language endangerment .................................................................... 39 A critique of language endangerment ...................................................................... 42 2.6 Local Terminology Used in Mexico and Yucatán .................................................... 46 2.7 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 52 CHAPTER 3. SOCIOLINGUISTIC MINORISATION PROCESSES IN MEXICO ................................... 53 3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 53 3.2 The Colonial Period and the Spread of Spanish ....................................................... 53 3.3 Independence and Nation Building in Nineteenth Century Mexico ......................... 58 3.4 The Yucatán Peninsula in the Nineteenth Century ................................................... 61 3.5 Indigenismo and Education in Twentieth Century Mexico ...................................... 63 3.6 Sociopolitical and Economic Changes in Twentieth Century Yucatán .................... 65 3.7 Language Diversity and National Censuses in Mexico ............................................ 67 3.8 Current Trends of Language Shift to Spanish in Yucatán ........................................ 71 3.9 Language, Ethnicity, and Identity in Yucatán .......................................................... 77 3.10 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 83 CHAPTER 4. DISCOURSES OF LANGUAGE LEGISLATION ............................................................ 85 4.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................