Indigenous languages in Mexico
| Indigenous languages in Mexico | |
| language | Number of speakers |
|---|---|
| Nahuatl (Aztec, Nahuatlahtolli ) | 1,659,029 |
| Maya of Yucatán (Maaya t'aan) | 892.723 |
| Mixtekisch (Tu'un Savi) | 510.801 |
| Zapotec (Benezaa) | 505.992 |
| Tzotzil (Batsil k'op) | 356.349 |
| Tzeltal (Bats'il K'op) | 336,448 |
| Otomí (Hñä hñü) | 327.319 |
| Totonak (Tachihuiin) | 271,847 |
| Mazatec (Ha shuta enima) | 246.198 |
| Chol (Lak t'an) | 189,599 |
| Huastekisch (Téenek) | 173.233 |
| Chinantekisch (Tsa jujmí) | 152.711 |
| Mazahua (Jñatio) | 151,897 |
| Taraskan (P'urhépecha) | 136,388 |
| Mixes (Ayüük) | 135,316 |
| Tlapanek (Me'phaa) | 119.497 |
| Tarahumara (Rarámuri) | 87,721 |
| Zoque (O'de püt) | 60.093 |
| Amuzgo (Tzañcue) | 48,843 |
| Chatino (Cha'cña) | 47,762 |
| Tojolabal (Tojolab'al, Tojolwinik otik) | 44,531 |
| Popoluca (Tuncápxe) | 44,237 |
| Chontal of Tabasco (Yokot t'an) | 43,850 |
| Huichol (Wixárika) | 36,856 |
| Mayo (Yoreme) | 34,770 |
| Tepehuán (O'odham) | 30,339 |
| Trique (Tinujéi) | 24,491 |
| Cora (Naáyarite) | 19,512 |
| Popoloca (Oto-Mangue) | 18,926 |
| Huave (Ikoods) | 16,135 |
| Cuicatec (Nduudu yu) | 15,078 |
| Yaqui (Yoreme) | 15.053 |
| Kanjobal (Q'anjob'al) | 10,833 |
| Tepehua (Hamasipini) | 10,625 |
| Pame (Xigüe) | 9,768 |
| Mam (Qyool) | 8,739 |
| Chontal de Oaxaca (Slijuala sihanuk) | 5,534 |
| Chuj | 2.143 |
| Tacuate | 2,067 |
| Chichimeca Jonaz (Uza) | 1,987 |
| Guarijío (Makurawe) | 1,905 |
| Chocho (Runixa ngiigua) | 1,078 |
| Pima (O'odham) | 836 |
| Kekchí (Q'eqchi) | 835 |
| Lacandon (Hach t'an) | 731 |
| Jakaltekisch (Abxubal) | 584 |
| Ocuilteco (Tlahuica) | 522 |
| Seri (Concaac) | 518 |
| Ixcatec | 406 |
| Quiché (K'iche ') | 286 |
| Cakchiquel (Kaqchikel) | 230 |
| Paipai (Akwa'ala) | 221 |
| Cucapá (Es péi) | 206 |
| Mototzintleco or Mocho (Qatok) | 186 |
| Kumiai (Ti'pai) | 185 |
| Pápago (Tohono o'odam) | 153 |
| Kickapoo or Kikapú (Kikapooa) | 144 |
| Ixil | 108 |
| Cochimí (Laymón, mti'pá) | 96 |
| Kiliwa (Ko'lew) | 55 |
| Aguacateco (Awakatek) | 27 |
| Other languages 1 | 337 |
| Source: CDI (2000) | |
Mexico is one of the countries with the largest number of indigenous languages . In addition to Spanish , which is de facto the only official language , Mexico has legally recognized 62 indigenous languages as " national languages" (lenguas nacionales) since 2003. According to the "National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples" of Mexico ( CDI ), 13% of the populationcan be classifiedas indigenous , although the last census in 2000 showed only 7.1% of the total population as native speakers of indigenous languages and less than 1% monolingual indigenous people .
The main indigenous languages of Mexico
The most widely spoken indigenous languages are Nahuatl with over 1.6 million speakers (scattered across 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 any other country in America.
history
Before the Spanish conquered Mexico , well over a hundred languages were spoken in what is now Mexico. Some of them were of national importance as trading languages . The Nahuatl had reached central Mexico through several waves of immigration from the north and became the prestige language of Mesoamerica through the advanced cultures of the Toltecs , the Tepanecs and finally the Mexica ( Aztecs ) . The most important cultural and fully-fledged written languages in the Maya cultural area ( Yucatán , Central America) were Mayathan and Chol . In what is now Oaxaca which in turn were Mixtec and Zapotec as a lingua franca important.
After the Conquista , Nahuatl was initially preferred as the mission language and so - to a limited extent - was further spread. This was supported by a decree of Philip II of Spain from 1570 to make Nahuatl the official language in New Spain for communication between whites and indigenous people. Over a century later, in 1696, Charles II of Spain issued a decree that Spanish alone was to be the official language in the Spanish colonial empire.
However, the accelerated decline of the indigenous languages did not begin until after Mexico's independence , when the ruling Creoles established their language, Spanish, as the official language. In 1820, around 60% of the population was said to have spoken indigenous languages, while in 1889, according to the geographer Antonio García Cubas, the proportion had already fallen to 38%. The census of 2000 showed a content of nurmehr 7.1%. The data from this census shows that many of Mexico's indigenous languages are endangered as only a few children learn them. This applies - at least in essential parts of their language area - even to the “big” indigenous languages such as B. Nahuatl , Mayathan and Otomí .
The realization of the right to schooling for everyone, but only in the official language of Spanish, after the Mexican Revolution and the social advancement that it also made easier should have contributed to the acceleration of assimilation . Until recently, the stated goal of the Mexican government (like other Latin American countries) was the Hispanization of the indigenous population, which was also understood as "liberation from backwardness". It is important to note, however, that in censuses, knowledge of a language of low reputation is regularly denied, and so numbers for indigenous languages that are too low are determined (underreporting) .
The 1990s represent a turning point in official politics, when the so-called intercultural bilingual education ( Educación Intercultural Bilingüe , EIB or EBI) was first discussed on an international level in America . It was from these years that the second article of the Mexican Constitution stipulated that Mexico was a multicultural nation and recognized the right of indigenous peoples to "preserve and enrich their languages ..." and that the state sponsored the EIB .
In 2003 the Mexican Parliament passed the "General Law on the Linguistic Rights of Indigenous Peoples", which recognized Spanish and the indigenous languages of Mexico as "national languages" due to their historical background and the indigenous languages "have the same validity in their territory, area and context" agreed. Based on this law, indigenous peoples can submit and request official documents in their language. According to this, the state is obliged to maintain and promote the use of the national languages through the activities of the " Institute for Indigenous Languages ".
With around ten million speakers of indigenous languages, Mexico has the second largest absolute number of indigenous speakers in America after Peru . In percentage terms, however, it is behind Paraguay ( Guaraní over 90%), Bolivia (approx. 60%), Guatemala (42.8%), Peru (35%), Ecuador (9.4%) and Panama (8.3 %) only in seventh place.
Vitality of the indigenous languages of Mexico
The vitality of a language can be measured by the extent to which it is passed on from parents (or grandparents) to children. In this regard, there are major differences between the indigenous languages in Mexico. Overall, the absolute number of speakers of indigenous languages is still increasing, but their share in the total population is decreasing as it is growing faster. For some languages - including important languages such as Otomí and Mayathan - the absolute number of languages also decreased between 2000 and 2010. For some others, on the other hand, due to very high birth rates and the fact that the language is passed on to almost all children, the percentage of the total population increases significantly. These include the Maya languages Tzotzil and Tzeltal in Chiapas , but also smaller languages such as the Uto-Aztec languages of Huichol and Tarahumara in the Sierra Madre Occidental .
A decline in the number of speakers particularly affects languages spoken in economically and easily accessible areas, for example in parts of central Mexico and on the Yucatán peninsula , while languages in remote areas are still spoken by many children today. This pattern is also followed by Nahuatl , which is spread over many remote areas and is only spoken by a few elderly people in Mexico City , the number of speakers is declining in many areas near the capital, but in more remote areas such as in Guerrero , along with the indigenous languages the highest growth rates.
| Indigenous languages in Mexico: number of speakers and proportion of children (2010 census) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indigenous language | Speakers from 3 years | Speakers aged 3-14 | Proportion of speakers from 3-14 of all speakers | Share of speakers among all Mexicans aged 3 and over | Share of speakers among all Mexicans aged 3–14 |
| All Mexicans | 104781265 | 26357929 | 25.16% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
| All indigenous languages | 6913362 | 1549365 | 22.41% | 6.60% | 5.88% |
| Nahuatl | 1586884 | 331456 | 20.89% | 1.51% | 1.26% |
| Mayathan | 796405 | 89994 | 11.30% | 0.76% | 0.34% |
| Mixtec | 489630 | 123079 | 25.14% | 0.47% | 0.47% |
| Tzeltal (Tseltal) | 474298 | 171840 | 36.23% | 0.45% | 0.65% |
| Zapotec | 434201 | 70118 | 16.15% | 0.41% | 0.27% |
| Tzotzil (Tsotsil) | 429168 | 149543 | 34.84% | 0.41% | 0.57% |
| Otomí | 288052 | 32562 | 11.30% | 0.27% | 0.12% |
| Totonak | 250252 | 49277 | 19.69% | 0.24% | 0.19% |
| Mazatec | 230124 | 53660 | 23.32% | 0.22% | 0.20% |
| Chol (Ch'ol) | 222051 | 66967 | 30.16% | 0.21% | 0.25% |
| Huastekish | 166952 | 43204 | 25.88% | 0.16% | 0.16% |
| Mix | 136736 | 29333 | 21.45% | 0.13% | 0.11% |
| Mazahua | 136717 | 11407 | 8.34% | 0.13% | 0.04% |
| Chinantekisch | 135353 | 30555 | 22.57% | 0.13% | 0.12% |
| Taraskan (Purépecha) | 128344 | 26855 | 20.92% | 0.12% | 0.10% |
| Tlapanec | 127244 | 45266 | 35.57% | 0.12% | 0.17% |
| Tarahumara | 89503 | 26488 | 29.59% | 0.09% | 0.10% |
| Zoque | 65372 | 16990 | 25.99% | 0.06% | 0.06% |
| Tojolabal | 54201 | 16367 | 30.20% | 0.05% | 0.06% |
| Huichol | 47625 | 17069 | 35.84% | 0.05% | 0.06% |
| Chatino | 47327 | 15665 | 33.10% | 0.05% | 0.06% |
| Amuzgo de Guerrero | 45889 | 14915 | 32.50% | 0.04% | 0.06% |
| Popoluca | 42473 | 11524 | 27.13% | 0.04% | 0.04% |
| Mayo | 39759 | 1880 | 4.73% | 0.04% | 0.01% |
| Chontal de Tabasco | 37091 | 3976 | 10.72% | 0.04% | 0.02% |
| Triqui | 27137 | 8342 | 30.74% | 0.03% | 0.03% |
| Tepehuano de Durango (Tepehuano del sur) | 26804 | 9939 | 37.08% | 0.03% | 0.04% |
| Zapoteco sureño | 24089 | 7791 | 32.34% | 0.02% | 0.03% |
| Cora | 21445 | 7762 | 36.19% | 0.02% | 0.03% |
| Popoloca | 18485 | 4017 | 21.73% | 0.02% | 0.02% |
| Huave | 18264 | 4579 | 25.07% | 0.02% | 0.02% |
| Yaqui | 17592 | 3408 | 19.37% | 0.02% | 0.01% |
| Cuicateco | 13037 | 1928 | 14.79% | 0.01% | 0.01% |
| Pame | 11627 | 3927 | 33.77% | 0.01% | 0.01% |
| Mame (Mam) | 10467 | 1155 | 11.03% | 0.01% | 0.00% |
| Kanjobal (Q'anjob'al) | 9625 | 2616 | 27.18% | 0.01% | 0.01% |
| Tepehua | 8968 | 1094 | 12.20% | 0.01% | 0.00% |
| Tepehuano de Chihuahua (Tepehuano del norte) | 8399 | 2991 | 35.61% | 0.01% | 0.01% |
| Amuzgo de Oaxaca | 5203 | 1417 | 27.23% | 0.00% | 0.01% |
cards
| Maps of indigenous languages in Mexico | |||
|
|
|
|
| Languages with more than 100,000 speakers. | Languages with 20,000 to under 100,000 speakers | Languages with under 20,000 speakers | |
swell
- ↑ Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas, http://cdi.gob.mx/index.php?id_seccion=660
- ↑ Ley general de derechos linguísticos de los pueblos indígenas, http://www.inali.gob.mx/pdf/LGDLPI.pdf