Global Survey of Revitalization Efforts: Latin American region

Abstract

The XXI century has seen a significant increase in efforts to revitalize languages worldwide. The Global Survey of Revitalization Efforts documented 245 efforts for 208 languages. The Survey followed a mixed methods approach and included 30 questions. It was administered online in 7 languages and yielded some 40 000 bits of data. This study builds upon the global results reported in Pérez Báez et al. (2019) to provide frequency counts and analysis focused on two Latin American regions: Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean as one, and South America. The results show that revitalization efforts have increased in the XXI century, suggesting that many efforts are recent and in need of support. The results include descriptions by revitalization practitioners of the support needed such as capacity building, institutional support, internal community support as well as support and respect from outside the language community. The data suggest that while revitalization efforts are responding to situations of advanced language shift, there is a notable focus in South America to engage in language maintenance to protect the extant vitality of languages. Based on the Survey, revitalization efforts seem heavily focused on language teaching, perhaps over intergenerational transmission of a language. This study further pairs the qualitative data shared by participants with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to show that linguistic diversity is integral to human development and human rights.