Chiapas is first in mother tongues
The article originally published by Portavoz highlights the efforts in Chiapas to lead in the preservation and promotion of indigenous languages. It covers the various initiatives aimed at supporting linguistic diversity and the educational impact on indigenous communities. Though the original content is in Spanish, the essence captures significant cultural movements in Chiapas. For further information, refer to the original article available here.
As part of the celebration of the International Day of Mother Tongues, Chiapas presents a great pluriethnic and multicultural richness, 12 linguistic groups are recognized:
Ch'oltseltal,
Tsotsil
Zoque
Tojolabal
Kakchikel
Mocho
Mame
Lacandon Maya
Chuj
Jacalteco and Kanjobal
According to the Census of Population and Housing 2021 of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, the indigenous population of Chiapas is 1.8 million inhabitants, a diversity of communities face serious threats, the languages considered as minority are Kakchikel, Mocho, Mame, Lacandon Maya, Chuj, Jacalteco and Kanjobal. In Mexico, seven million 364,645 people "three years of age and older" speak an indigenous language, which represents 6 percent of the total population to date. The most spoken languages are: Nahuatl, Maya and Tseltal, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).
The visibility of these communities is important. For this reason, INEGI published in 2020 an interactive map on its website, with the objective of showing the percentage of the population speaking an indigenous language in Mexico. The entities with the highest figures are:
Oaxaca (31.2 percent),
Chiapas (28.2 percent),
Yucatan (23.7 percent),
Guerrero (15.5 percent),
Hidalgo (12.3 percent),
Quintana Roo (11.7 percent), Campeche (10.4 percent).
Campeche (10.4 percent).
Number of seats: 1,135
Festivities
In accordance with tradition and strategies for the preservation of memory and identity, the Tzeltzales strictly follow the celebration of a calendar of festivities and rituals, with which the year of cultivation and offerings begins and ends. And rituals, which initiate and conclude the year of cultivation and offerings. All the municipalities celebrate patron saint festivities throughout the year, depending on whether it is San Juan, in Cancuc, or San Ildefonso, in Tenejapa, among the most symbolic festivals is the carnival in Tenejapa and the carnival in Tenejapa and Oxchuc. During the carnival, the festivity represents a ritual of preservation through play, rhythm, lightness and irony. The meanings are intertwined according to a logic of communal meaning. The body becomes grotesque through a dual male-female identity. Fault is tolerated for the duration of the farce. The farce lasts.
Zoques
The Zoques are found in three zones of Chiapas: the Gulf slope, the Sierra and the Central Depression.
Central Depression.
Their population is approximately eighty-six thousand members. The language of this group is Zoque and belongs to the Mixe-Zoque-Popoluca linguistic family. The word "zoque" means "people of language" or "word of man". In the traditional festivities, the favorite dish of the Zoque is putzatzé.
The Zoque chiefdoms prior to the arrival of the Spaniards followed the following relationship pattern dominant, in which the weaker ones were tributaries of the stronger ones. The area of expansion of the Zoques in pre-Columbian times included the coast of Chiapas to Guatemala, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, southern Guatemala, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, southern Veracruz, southwestern Tabasco and northwestern central Chiapas. Northwestern center of Chiapas. Subsequently, incursions by Mayan, Zapotec and Chiapanecan groups and Chiapanec groups reduced their territory and subjected them to the payment of tribute. Around 1484, the Aztecs consolidated their conquest of Chiapas, which is why the Zoques from the center and west of the state began to pay tribute to the west of the state began to pay tribute to them. The arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century further reduced the Zoque territory and increased the amount of their tribute. The capital of one of the main Zoque tribes was Quechula, which is now under the waters of the Malacan dam. The warrior caste had Janepaguay in the Ocozocuautla valleys as its capital.
In the municipality of Francisco Leon (due to the eruption of the Chichonal volcano) are the ruins of Gualegueguay. The ruins of Gualeguas, an ancient Zoque city. Another Zoque chiefdom was settled in present-day Cunduacán, Tabasco. The Zoques who possessed the most coveted lands, such as those who inhabited, those who lived in the central depression near Tuxtla Gutiérrez and in the western valleys, quickly adopted the Zoque quickly adopted Spanish and the values and customs of the dominant group.
The Spanish Crown subjected the Zoques to the heaviest work and concentrated them in villages. Because of forced labor and newly acquired diseases, the Zoques drastically decreased in numbers. Drastically decreased in numbers. In the central depression, the Spaniards devoted.
In the central depression, the Spaniards devoted themselves mainly to cattle raising and the cochineal, cotton, sugar, and leather the Zoques to agricultural work and traditional activities, such as blanket weaving, in which the Zoques were such as the weaving of blankets, in which they achieved great perfection. The ill-treatment and forced labor caused discontent among the population, giving rise to incidents of rebellion that were incidents of rebellion that were put down by the colonizers' troops.
Independence meant a new period of exploitation and forced labor for the Zoque population. Forced labor, at the service of new masters, mestizos and laymen. During the 19th century, laws were passed that favored the concentration of land in the hands of a few, forming a class of large landowners in the region the concentration of land in the hands of a few, thus forming a class of large landowners in the region that kept the Indians in conditions of servitude on the large haciendas.
The agrarian distribution that began after the Mexican Revolution, the Zoques entered into a process of "integration" into the national culture.
Population
Total population: 60,609
Distribution of the population in the territory
Chiapas (49,729)
Oaxaca (7,966)
Veracruz (2,793)
Tabasco (121)
Number of localities: 198
How many indigenous languages are there and what are they in Mexico?
The people who keep their linguistic culture alive are located in different regions of the country. The Mexican government has established a division of the number of mother tongues existing in each state to date, in coordination with the Cultural Information System. This body compiled specialized information on the subject and defined 68 indigenous languages in total. Chiapas has 12; Baja California and Veracruz have five in both states.
Guanajuato, Jalisco, Nayarit, Tlaxcala, Coahuila, Durango, Hidalgo, Michoacán and Yucatán have one. San Luis Potosí, Tabasco, Puebla and Chihuahua have two. The State of Mexico and Guerrero have three each. In Campeche and Sonora, six were identified in each state. Finally, Oaxaca has 11.
In the capital there are 139 indigenous peoples and 58 indigenous neighborhoods, whose most widely spoken languages are Nahuatl, Mixteco and Otomí, according to issue number eight of the magazine Ciudad Defensora, published by the Human Rights Commission of Mexico City (CDHCM ) in September 2020. The publication also clarifies that more than 50% of the territory of the CDMX is made up of these communities of pre-colonial origin.
The native languages and their speakers have been recognized in Mexican legislation, with the General Law of Linguistic Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Article 13, section I, establishes that the state must protect, preserve and promote indigenous languages in a context of respect. In addition, with Article 14, the Government created the National Institute of Indigenous Languages (INLI) with the objective of strengthening and coordinating the development of native languages. One of the most important legal considerations is the one that refers to the assets of the INLI. Article 21, section I, stipulates that the government must contribute an annual amount to form INLI's assets. However, the communiqué of the Movimiento de Pueblos, Comunidades y Organizaciones Indígenas de la Ciudad de México (MPCOMN), released on February 14 of this year, warned that the budget for 2023 is 64 million 696 thousand 287 pesos. The amount, according to the document, is insufficient for the INLI to fulfill the objective of its creation. In addition, the movement warned that half of the indigenous languages are at risk of disappearing, as one of the consequences of the low funding available for this year.