The Issue in Brief

Languages are vanishing. Of the 6,000 languages spoken in the world today, at least 50% of them will become extinct within the next century. We are losing languages, and along with these languages, the cultural heterogeneity of our planet, at an alarming rate. Hundreds of languages have vanished in the last few decades and hundreds more will become extinct in the years to come. In losing languages, we lose the knowledge that the speakers of these languages possess. In short, we lose much of the diversity of knowledge that has given us the tools for survival across the world for thousands of years.

So why do people give up their native language? In many countries, clinging to native languages offers no economic and/or social benefits. In some countries, local languages are considered a source of tribalism. In others, learning in the native tongue only serves as a transition to the national language. This model makes the native language useless. People learn that literacy in their native language plays no role in their everyday life. In many parts of the Mexican Republic, indigenous people suffer racial discrimination because of their lack of proficiency in the national language. Their cultures are considered inferior to the cultures of the powerful societies and the multicultural character of those nations is often denied by the people in power.

The lack of literacy is daunting. It cuts people off from their past by preventing them from documenting their own history and robs them of their future by burying, possibly forever, the foundation upon which they live. Preserving language, thereby preserving knowledge, is a vehicle for the economic development of indigenous people. A program to rescue language, and with it the knowledge and culture of the people, is what is needed. To preserve culture, we must preserve not just spoken languages, but also written languages.

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The Context in Mexico

According to the Mexican Constitution, the many languages and cultures of its nation are critical to its survival; it states: "The Mexican nation has a multicultural composition, stemming originally from its indigenous communities. The law will protect and promote the development of their languages, cultures, usages, customs, resources, and specific forms of social organization and will guarantee to the members of those communities effective access to the jurisdiction of the state."

However, in many parts of the republic, Mexican people still suffer discrimination. Their cultures are considered inferior to the dominant Spanish culture and their languages are sometimes rejected as unimportant.

The population of indigenous languages in Mexico is a matter of dispute. The 1990 census counted about 5 million speakers of indigenous languages with about 20% or 1 million in Oaxaca. However, many bilinguals fail to identify themselves to the census takers as speakers of indigenous languages. Dr. Russell Bernard, one of the founders of the Native Literacy Center in Oaxaca, believes, however, that there are at least 8 million speakers of indigenous languages in Mexico. He believes that the number of monolinguals is even less certain. For Oaxaca, for example, the 1990 census reports that about 22% of native language speakers are monolingual. However, census takers report as bilingual any speaker of a native language who can say even a few words in Spanish. Thus, the estimates that up to half the speakers of native languages in Oaxaca, at least, may be monolingual.

In spite of the Mexican constitution, indigenous peoples are seeing their traditions and languages wither away. The best solution seems to be for authorities to channel resources directly to the indigenous groups. It is clear that the main responsibility and hope for revitalizing vanishing cultures is with the speakers of those languages themselves. Through direct participation of native peoples and through the native projects they found, languages can be preserved through their writings. It will allow them to preserve and develop their identify and the cultural elements that comprise that identity.

To look at an overview of the project, project activities, or project outcomes and implications, click on the corresponding heading.

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