Languages: A Video Library for Successor Pipil Generation (fwd link)

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Languages: A Video Library for Successor Pipil Generation

Written by Eddie Avila
Posted 28 August 2012 1:17 GMT

Unlike its neighbor Guatemala to the west, with approximately 40% of
its population of indigenous descent, the country of El Salvador has a
smaller indigenous population. Official government data places the
indigenous population at approximately 1% However, since the 2007
Census did not accurately take ethnicity into account, other studies
took place that showed that the actual number may be anywhere between
2.5-10% Some might say that the reason that the Salvadoran indigenous
population has decreased in number may be in part due to the events of
1932 where approximately 25,000 peasants and indigenous were targeted
and massacred by the Salvadoran government as a contributing reason
for this difference. Because of this violence, members of these
indigenous communities often chose to hide prominent displays of their
native culture and language out of a need for survival.

Eight decades later, one of these indigenous communities, the Pipil
has now seen the number of native speakers of the Pipil language or
Nahuat (also written as Nawat) dwindle as low as 200 speakers [es].

Access full article below:
http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/blog/2012/08/27/languages-a-video-library-for-successor-pipil-generation/