<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:large"><h1 style="border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:24px;font-family:nobile,Tahoma,Verdana,sans-serif;vertical-align:baseline;margin:0px 0px 15px;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,29,22);line-height:1.2">
Keeping Indigenous Languages Alive in Mexico</h1><div><p style="border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:14px;font-family:Palatino,'Palatino Linotype','Hoefler Text',Times,'Times New Roman',serif;vertical-align:baseline;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,29,22);line-height:24.5px">
Source: <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/04/140410-mexico-languages-speaking-cultures-world-zapotec/" style="border:0px;outline:0px;font-style:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;margin:0px;padding:0px;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(3,145,181)">National Geographic</a></p>
<p style="border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:14px;font-family:Palatino,'Palatino Linotype','Hoefler Text',Times,'Times New Roman',serif;vertical-align:baseline;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,29,22);line-height:24.5px">
<em>by Jenna Randall</em></p><p style="border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:14px;font-family:Palatino,'Palatino Linotype','Hoefler Text',Times,'Times New Roman',serif;vertical-align:baseline;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,29,22);line-height:24.5px">
What if there were only a few dozen people in the entire world who spoke your native tongue? What if you could count the number of people who fluently speak your language on one hand? This alarming scenario is a reality for several Indigenous peoples in Mexico.</p>
<p style="border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:14px;font-family:Palatino,'Palatino Linotype','Hoefler Text',Times,'Times New Roman',serif;vertical-align:baseline;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,29,22);line-height:24.5px">
According to the <a href="http://www.ciesas.edu.mx/" style="border:0px;outline:0px;font-style:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;margin:0px;padding:0px;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(3,145,181)">Centre for Research and Higher Studies in Social Anthropology</a> (CIESAS), of the 143 Indigenous languages spoken in Mexico, 60 are at risk of extinction, and 21 are <a href="http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=140471&CultureCode=en" style="border:0px;outline:0px;font-style:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;margin:0px;padding:0px;text-decoration:none;color:rgb(3,145,181)">critically endangered</a>. To be classified as critically endangered, a language must have fewer than 200 speakers.</p>
<p style="border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:14px;font-family:Palatino,'Palatino Linotype','Hoefler Text',Times,'Times New Roman',serif;vertical-align:baseline;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,29,22);line-height:24.5px">
Many of these groups suffer from language “displacement,” which occurs when the younger generation does not learn the Indigenous language, leaving only a group of seniors who speak the language. Once the seniors pass away, the language dies with them.</p>
<p style="border:0px;outline:0px;font-size:14px;font-family:Palatino,'Palatino Linotype','Hoefler Text',Times,'Times New Roman',serif;vertical-align:baseline;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding:0px;color:rgb(40,29,22);line-height:24.5px">
Access full article below: </p></div><div><a href="http://firstpeoples.org/wp/keeping-indigenous-languages-alive-in-mexico/">http://firstpeoples.org/wp/keeping-indigenous-languages-alive-in-mexico/</a><br></div></div></div>