Date: 21-Sep-2006 From: Julia Ulrich <julia.ulrichdegruyter.com> Subject: Mexican Indigenous Languages at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century: Hidalgo (Ed)
Title: Mexican Indigenous Languages at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century
Series Title: Contributions to the Sociology of Language 91
Published: 2006
Publisher: Mouton de Gruyter
http://www.mouton-publishers.com
Editor: Margarita Hidalgo, San Diego State University
Hardback: ISBN: 3110185970 Pages: 382 Price: Europe EURO 98.00
Hardback: ISBN: 3110185970 Pages: 382 Price: U.S. $ 132.30
Abstract:
This volume explores the reversing language shift (RLS) theory in the Mexican scenario from various viewpoints: The socio-historical perspective delves into the dynamics of power that emerged in the Mexican colony as a result of the presence of Spanish. It examines the processes of external and internal Indianization affecting the early European protagonists and the varied dimensions of language shift and maintenance of the Mexican colonial period.
The Mexican case sheds light upon language contact from the time in which Western civilization came into contact with the Mesoamerican peoples, for the encounter began with a demographic catastrophe that motivated a recovery mission. While the recovery of Mexican indigenous languages (MIL) was remarkable, RLS ended after fifty years of abundant productivity in MIL. Since then, the slow process of recovery is related to demographic changes, socio-religious movements, rebellion, confrontation, and survival strategies that have fostered language maintenance with bilingualism and language shift with culture preservation.
The causes of the Chiapas uprising are analyzed in connection with the language attitudes of the indigenous peoples, while language policy is discussed in reference to the new Law of Linguistic Rights of the Indigenous Peoples (2003). A quantitative classification of the MIL is offered with an overview of their geographic distribution, trends of macro-societal bilingualism, use in the home domain, and permanence in the original Mesoamerican settlements. Innovative models of bilingual education are presented along with relevant data on several communities and the philosophies and methodologies justifying the programs. A model of Mazahua language use is presented along the Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale.
Contents
Prologue: At the dawn of the twenty-first century
Part I. History and theory
Mexican indigenous languages in the twenty-first century Margarita Hidalgo
The Indianization of Spaniards in New Spain Claudia Parodi
The multiple dimensions of language maintenance and shift in colonial Mexico Margarita Hidalgo
Socio-historical determinants in the survival of Mexican indigenous languages Margarita Hidalgo
Part II. Language policy
Legislating diversity in twenty-first century Mexico Dora Pellicer, Bárbara Cifuentes and Carmen Herrera
Centralization vs. local initiatives. Mexican and U.S. legislation of Amerindian languages F. Daniel Althoff
The Mexican indigenous languages and the national censuses: 1970-2000 191 Bárbara Cifuentes and José Luis Moctezuma
Part III. Bilingualism and bilingual education
Local language promoters and new discursive spaces: Mexicano in and out of schools in Tlaxcala Jacqueline H. E. Messing and Elsie Rockwell
Bilingual education: Strategy for language maintenance or shift of Yucatec Maya? Barbara Pfeiler and Lenka Zámišová
Intervention in indigenous education. Culturally-sensitive materials for bilingual Nahuatl speakers José Antonio Flores Farfán
Stages of bilingualism. Local conversational practices among Mazahuas Dora Pellicer
IV. Conclusions
Language policy. Past, present, and future Margarita Hidalgo
linguistlist.org>
