LANGUAGES 

Diego Ignacio Bugeda Bernal* Mexico’s Indigenous Languages An Overview

language is a world view, a way of understanding ing languages nationwide (68 indigenous languages and and interpreting the world, and, with other di­ Spanish) recognized in Article 4 of the General Law on In­ Amensions of human communication, makes up digenous Peoples’ Linguistic Rights (lgdlpi), make ours one an episteme, or a mentality. of the planet’s most multi-cultural countries (see Graph 1). The great number of indigenous languages spoken in What is more, the number of linguistic variations and di­ Mexico also denotes the country’s very broad cultural di­ alects is even greater: it comes to 364, accord­ing to the versity, because each language expresses a culture with Ca­­­tálogo de lenguas indígenas nacionales (Catalogue­ of Na­ its mentality, customs, art, construction of values, and tional Indigenous Languages).1 thinking. According to United Nations data, the 69 exist­

Graph 1. Top 10 Countries with the Most Languages, 2019

Papua New Guinea 840

Indonesia 710

Nigeria 524

India 453

United States 335

Australia 319

China 305

Mexico 292

Cameroon 275

Brazil 228

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 Languages

Source: Ethnologue. Languages of the World magazine, en https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/ attachment/file/121653/Infografia _INDI_FINAL_08082016.pdf.

* Editor at cisan; [email protected].

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Unfortunately this cultural and linguistic wealth is at risk. This is partially due to successive governments’ It is necessary to allow the historically failed public policies with regard to indigenous indigenous peoples themselves and their peoples. But also at fault are erroneous paternalistic ap­ independent, non-government-influenced proaches centered on preserving indigenous languages organizations play more of a leading as though they were museum pieces rather than the cre­ role in defining the public strategies ation of conditions for the first peoples to participate in that affect their interests. national development without renouncing their cultures, customs, and convictions. Graphs 2 and 3); the fertility rate is much higher (with Demographic data from the National Institute for Sta­ 3.1 children per woman and only 2.2 children among tistics and Geography (inegi) indicate that more than 25.6 non-indigenous-language speakers) (see Graph 4); and million persons in Mexico self-identify as indigenous. Of they are much more prone to be living in poverty or ex­ those, approximately 7.4 million still speak an indige­ treme poverty, or having a clear disadvantage vis-à-vis job nous language: 6 138 000 are bilingual and 810 505 are opportunities or access to basic services and material multilingual.2 Among the indigenous-language speakers, well-being than monolingual Spanish speakers (Figures socio-demographic statistics point to their social mar­ 1 and 2). ginalization and, on occasion, even discrimination. Some Their marginality and often frank exclusion have also examples: if compared to mono-lingual Spanish speak­ led in practice to the new generations of indigenous-lan­ ers, their formal educational levels are much lower (see guage speakers being smaller and smaller; many of the

Graph 2 Percent of the Population 15 and Older by Level Of Schooling and Language Spoken (2015)

Percent 35.0 Indigenous Language 33.1 Speakers

30.0 Non-indigenous Language Speakers

25.0 23.9 21.3 21.9 21.4 20.0 18.9 17.9 15.4 15.0

9.5 10.0 7.0

5.0 5.0 4.4

0.0 No Schooling Incomplete Primary School Middle-school High-school University Primary School Graduate Graduate Graduate and Higher

Source: Estimates by Conapo (Consejo Nacional de Población), based on Encuesta Intercensal 2015, https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/121653/Infografia_INDI_FINAL_08082016.pdf.

46  Languages

Graph 3 Literacy

INDIGENOUS-LANGUAGE SPEAKERS NON-INDIGENOUS-LANGUAGE SPEAKERS

ab ab cdefghi cdefghi jklmn jklmn

¿ ! ? ¿ ! ?

ILLITERATE LITERATE LITERATE ILLITERATE 23.2% 76.8% 95.8% 4.2% Source: INEGI (2015), http://cuentame.inegi.org.mx/impresion/poblacion/lindigena.asp.

Graph 4 Fertility Rates for Indigenous-language Speakers And Non-speakers (2015)

Number of Births per 100 Women 180.0 169.2

160.0 156.8 Indigenous-language Speakers Non-indigenous-language Speakers 140.0

120.0 126.3 114.1 115.9 100.0

82.8 80.0 84.7 67.5 60.0 61.4

40.0 44.4 23.9 20.0 4.4 12.6 1.8 0.0 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 Age Groups

Source: Estimates by Conapo (Consejo Nacional de Población), based on Encuesta Intercensal 2015, https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/121653/Infografia_INDI_FINAL_08082016.pdf.

47 Voices of Mexico 109 

Figure 1 Rate of Participation in the Economy

INDIGENOUS-LANGUAGE Persons 15 and Older NON-INDIGENOUS- SPEAKERS Employed or Searching LANGUAGE SPEAKERS for Employment

46.9% 54.7%

Source: Estimates by Conapo (Consejo Nacional de Población), based on Encuesta Intercensal 2015, https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/121653/Infografia_INDI_FINAL_08082016.pdf.

Figure 2 Access to Services

70.7% 53.9% 51.0% INDIGENOUS- LANGUAGE SPEAKERS LANGUAGE

95.2% 87.6% 88.4% NON-INDIGENOUS- LANGUAGE SPEAKERS LANGUAGE

Source: Estimates by Conapo (Consejo Nacional de Población), based on Encuesta Intercensal 2015, https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/121653/Infografia_INDI_FINAL_08082016.pdf.

48  Languages

languages are at grave risk of disappearing, and with them, Náhuatl, Mayan, and Tseltal (Table 2). The geographical entire cultures. Others have already disappeared (see areas with the largest number of speakers are in Mexico’s Table 1); and few —or practically none— have been able South and Southeast, followed by Central Mexico, Vera­ to maintain a proportional number of speakers in recent cruz, and Michoacán (Map 1). The states with the largest years. The three most widely disseminated languages are population of indigenous-language speakers are Oaxaca,

Table 1 Table 2 Indigenous Languages Dead Languages of Mexico Most Spoken in Mexico

Extinct Indigenous Languages in Mexico • Náhuatl 1 275 620 speakers (23.4%) Language Last Spoken • Mayan 859 000 607 (11.6%) Ópata 2000 • Tseltal 556 720 (7.5%) Eudeve 1940 • Mixtec 517 665 (7.0%) • Tzotzil 487 898 (6.6%) Lipán 1970 • Zapotec 479 474 (6.5%) Pochutec 1980 • Otomí 307 928 (4.2%) Tubar 1940 • Totonac 267 635 (3.6%) Piro XIX Century • Chol 251 809 (3.4%) and, • Mazatec 239 078 (3.2%) Cuitlatec 1960

Source: inegi (2015), http://cuentame.inegi.org.mx/ Source: Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas impresion/poblacion/lindigena.asp. (Inali), https://site.inali.gob.mx/Micrositios/ flin_2018/informacion.html.

Map 1 Percent of Population Age 5 and Over That Speaks an Indigenous Language (by state)

Percent of Indigenous-language Speakers in Each State

27.9-32.2 10.0-27.8 3.6-9.9 0.2-3.5

Source: Estimates by Conapo (Consejo Nacional de Población), based on Encuesta Intercensal 2015, https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/121653/Infografia_INDI_FINAL_08082016.pdf.

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Graph 5 Percent of the Population that Speaks an Indigenous Language (by State)

Percent

35.0 32.8

30.0 28.9 28.0

25.0

20.0 16.6 15.3

15.0 14.3 11.5 11.3 10.0

10.0 9.2 5.4 5.0 3.6 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.5 2.4 2.0 1.7 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.2 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 Jalisco Colima Puebla Sonora Nayarit Oaxaca Sinaloa Hidalgo Yucatán Chiapas Tabasco Tlaxcala Morelos Durango Veracruz Coahuila Guerrero Zacatecas Querétaro Campeche Chihuahua Michoacán Tamaulipas Guanajuato Mexico City Mexico Nuevo León Nuevo Quintana Roo Baja California San Luis Potosí Aguascalientes State of Mexico State of Baja California Sur Baja California

Source: Estimates by Conapo (Consejo Nacional de Población), based on Encuesta Intercensal 2015, https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/121653/Infografia_INDI_FINAL_08082016.pdf.

The great number of indigenous languages spoken in Mexico also denotes the country’s very broad cultural di­versity, because each language expresses a culture with its mentality, customs, art, construction of values, and thinking.

Yucatán, and Chiapas, in that order, which together con­ presuppose a change in paradigms, moving away from centrate 42.6 percent of the total (Graph 5). a vision that seeks to integrate, “assimilate” the commu­ The National Commission for the Development of In­ nities into national development, implying that they digenous Peoples (cdi) and the Inali have made great generally take on board the language and culture of main­ efforts not only to support the preservation and develop­ stream society, and toward a multicultural perspective ment of indigenous cultures and languages, but also to that, rather, promotes or fosters peaceful and mutually create awareness among the general public of the need enriching co-existence among all the country’s groups and to create conditions that will guarantee them fully equal cultural world views. rights and obligations. However, socio-demographic in­ dicators show that government actions and public poli­  cies have not been enough. Perhaps it is also necessary Notes to allow the indigenous peoples themselves and their independent, non-government-influenced organizations, 1 The catalogue indicates the language, its variations, and the places it is spoken; the names of the languages are listed in their original such as the National Coordinating Committee of Indig­ phonetic form and in Spanish; https://site.inali.gob.mx/pdf/cata enous Peoples or the Chiapas autonomous Zapatista com­ logo_lenguas_indigenas.pdf. 2 Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas (Inali), Sections “Datos munities, to play more of a leading role in defining the duros” and “Lenguas más habladas,” https://site.inali.gob.mx/Mi public strategies that affect their interests. This would crositios/flin_2018/informacion.html.

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