En busca de los factores particulares de desplazamiento de lenguas indígenas de México. Comparación de dos casos

Abstract

El desplazamiento lingüístico es un fenómeno que acaba con la diversidad lingüística de los países, por lo que es necesario atender el problema y comprender sus alcances, para aminorar sus repercusiones. El objetivo del artículo es, por medio de un estudio basado en la ecología de presiones, mostrar algunos factores de desplazamiento lingüístico en dos poblaciones indígenas de México: la comunidad náhuatl Cuacuila y la comunidad mazahua San Miguel la Labor. Mediante la comparación de estas dos comunidades y la medición del nivel de desplazamiento-mantenimiento lingüístico de cada poblado, a través de la identificación de la presión de la máxima facilidad compartida, se reconocen las diferencias y semejanzas entre ambas localidades con la intención de identificar las causas particulares del fenómeno.

Nahuatl and Spanish in Contact: Language Practices in Mexico

“…This result underlines that Nahuatl is the language with which adults are most comfortable. These findings are consistent with other studies (Hill 1998;Garrido Cruz 2015;Hansen 2016;Gómez-Retana et al 2019; Mojica Lagunas 2019) However, when the adult population was divided into two age groups, there was a noticeable difference in the language use patterns. While older adults preferred Nahuatl in the expression of emotions as did Guaraní speakers in the 1960s (Rubin 1968), there was a trend towards bilingualism among younger adults similar to Guaraní speakers in the 2000s (Choi 2005).…”

“…The consistently more frequent use of Nahuatl by the older group in many contexts highlights the importance of elders or grandparents in fostering language maintenance (Hill 1998). This outcome is consistent with other studies (Garrido Cruz 2015;Hansen 2016;Gómez-Retana et al 2019;Mojica Lagunas 2019) where adults, especially seniors, are the gate keepers of Nahuatl. Similar to Guaraní-speaking Luque, Spanish was predominately used in formal situations, especially with professionals, such as schoolteachers, doctors, and nurses, as they were usually not from the community.…”

“…Two decades later, Messing (2007Messing ( , 2009 found similar patterns of use in two towns, Contla and San Isidro, in the same region studied by Hill and Hill (1986). Other studies that primarily focused on Nahuatl language use in the home context noted that elders were very integral to transmitting Nahuatl to the younger generation (Gómez-Retana et al 2019;Mojica Lagunas 2019;Hansen 2016;Garrido Cruz 2015;Hill 1998). A recent study (Gomashie 2020a) examining language practices of young people (aged 12-17) inside and outside their homes in Santiago Tlaxco revealed that they primarily communicated in Nahuatl with their grandparents, in line with findings of previous studies.…”

“…In the Totonac-speaking Upper Nexaca Valley of Mexico, parents preferred to communicate in Spanish with children because of its associated socioeconomic opportunities. Studies on other Indigenous languages, such as Cora, Mazahua, Otomí, Matlatzinca, Atzinca, and Mixe, in Mexico have also reported that the younger generation generally preferred to use Spanish in their interactions in their family circle, but used Indigenous languages most frequently with their grandparents (Trujillo Tamez et al 2007;Pérez Alvarado et al 2018;Gómez-Retana et al 2019). In the Canadian context, the remote Cree and Algonquin communities in Quebec communicated more in their Indigenous languages at home and in their community while Mohawk communities close to Montreal employed English in most language domains (Norris 2004;Gomashie 2019).…”