Peru: Miryam Yataco and the importance of indigenous languages (fwd link)

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Peru: Miryam Yataco and the importance of indigenous languages

21 Hours ago

By Rachel Chase via Indian Country Today

Peruvian activist Miryam Yataco believes in saving Peru’s linguistic
diversity.

Though it’s not well-known by people unfamiliar with Peru’s history,
Spanish is not the only language spoken in Peru. In fact, there are several
indigenous languages, such as Aymara and Quechua, that are still widely
spoken in Peru and neighboring countries like Bolivia.

However, activists and linguists fear that even the more widespread
indigenous languages may be in danger of extinction. Miryam Yataco, a
Peruvian educator and advocate for the promotion and preservation of
indigenous tongues, talked to North American publication Indian Country
Today about her work.

Yataco, who lives in New York but frequently travels to her home country of
Peru, was raised in a bilingual home, with a Spanish-speaking father and a
Quecha-speaking mother. “I grew up in Lima in the 1960s, the daughter of
two migrant parents,” she told Indian Country Today, “One was from the
south coast, and my mom was from a Quechua-speaking area. I grew up in a
bilingual household where the family policy was to hide anything to do with
the language of my mom, with Quechua. It is like we were killing that
language little by little.”

Yataco helped pass the Law for the Preservation and Use of Original
Languages of Peru in 2011, which required the Peruvian government to
recognize all of the indigenous languages spoken in the country. Yataco
believes that the measure has been an important step forward for indigenous
languages and the people who speak them.

Access full article below:
http://www.peruthisweek.com/news-peru-miryam-yataco-and-the-importance-of-indigenous-languages-100951
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