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Náhuatl and Mayan Language Renaissance Occurring in Mexico

(yucatanmagazine.com)
145 points bryanrasmussen | 4 comments | 13 May 25 16:08 UTC | HN request time: 0.671s | source
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neilshev ◴[16 May 25 13:46 UTC] No.44005494[source]▶
I always pay attention to efforts of restoration for endangered languages. Unfortunately, it seems to be an awfully difficult thing to do. In my home country, Ireland, we have been trying for around a century to restore/preserve Irish. But it has gone fairly poorly. It seems that falling below a critical mass of speakers, the language is nearly always considered 'useless'/'ancient'.

It seems to be very common across countries to have a bi-lingual population. But this is almost always the case where the native language is globally uncommon. So the population see the value of learning English/Spanish etc.

It also appears to be possible to keep languages healthy, active when there are many competing, but regional languages, not used anywhere else.

But it seems near impossible to revive a language where the majority already speak a globally useful language.

The alternative, unfortunately, seems to be to force the language through authoritarianism, like in the case of hebrew.

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1. alephnerd ◴[16 May 25 15:17 UTC] No.44006507[source]▶
Irish is different as it was largely dead by the 19th century.

On the other hand, Mayan languages and Nauhatul remain actively spoken across Southern Mexico and Guatemala.

I remember a decade ago the USCIS went on a hiring binge for Mayan interpreters becuase there was an influx of Guatemalan undocumented immigrants due to the economic collapse following their domestic instability.

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2. barry-cotter ◴[16 May 25 16:14 UTC] No.44007170[source]▶
> Irish is different as it was largely dead by the 19th century.

Absolute bollocks. Irish is still a living language in daily use today , albeit the last monoglot almost certainly died before 1950. Of the Celtic languages Cornish is at best a zombie, revived on the basis of its incredibly close relationship to Breton. Manx has been on life support or at death’s door for 70 years, but there was still at least one fluent nerve speaker when it became something more passed on in classes than in daily life. Welsh is in relatively good health and Irish and Scots Gaelic are living languages used in daily life in small, marginal areas.

> On the other hand, Mayan languages and Nauhatul remain actively spoken across Southern Mexico and Guatemala.

Yes. The Spanish spread them with their empire after the empires that first spoke them were conquered.

3. pqtyw ◴[16 May 25 17:16 UTC] No.44007805[source]▶
By the 20th century. The Irish language was quite alive and Irish speakers made up a majority in several major areas before the Great Famine (which obviously and not at all surprisingly disproportionally affected Irish speakers due to the pseudo-genocidal policies of the British government)
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4. alephnerd ◴[16 May 25 18:54 UTC] No.44008718[source]▶
Makes sense. I thought it had died out by the early 20th century, but based on census data it didn't die out but did see a rapid decline.

That said, I was thinking post-famine.