12 native Peruvian languages in danger of disappearing (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

24 September, 2006 [ 13:33 ]

12 native Peruvian languages in danger of disappearing
http://www.livinginperu.com/news/2492

(LIP-wb) -- During the last decades 30 of the 100 existing native
languages in Peru are extinct and today 12 more are in danger of
disappearing, warned James Roberts, director of Peru's Summer Institute
of Linguistics.

“The decrease in native Peruvian languages is mainly due to the
influence society has on the various ethnic groups living in rural
areas and the fact that the population within each group is getting
smaller”, Roberts said.

In ethnic groups with a population less than one thousand people, only
the parents speak the native language because the children learn
Spanish.

“If authorities and parents continue to send their children down this
educational path, it is likely that their linguistic identity will be
lost after one or two generations”, he warned.

In addition to Quechua and Aymara, the common indigenous languages
spoken mainly in the Peruvian Andes (departments of Cusco, Ancash, and
Ayacucho), there are several other languages spoken in Peru's Amazon
rain forest.

Some non-quechua languages that could soon be extinct are Sharanahua,
Yaninahua, Kashinahua, and Kapanahua in the department of Ucayali, as
well as Orejón, Sequoia and Arabela spoken in Loreto.

45 percent of Peru's population is indigenous and 25 percent speaks a
maternal language other than Spanish.

Currently the Summer Institute of Linguistics is advising Peru's
"National Program of Alphabetization", and initiative recently launched
by the Ministry for Education.

(Source: La Republica)
- for a language map of Northern Peru click here

- for Southern Peru click here

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