Language loss in Guatemala: A statistical analysis of the 1994 population census

Abstract

This study examines several approaches linguists have taken to explain native language attrition. Five attitudinal factors linked to ethnolinguistic vitality are examined: minority status, access to, and participation in, institutions and markets, cultural strength, education, and migration. Each factor was quantified into proxy variables using information compiled from the 1994 Guatemalan national population census. After constructing the data set, the author used regression analysis of the proxy variables to determine the significance of each attitudinal factor. Minority status, participation in institutions and markets, education, and migration all showed statistically significant correlations with language attrition among Maya speakers in Guatemala. Cultural strength, however, did not show a statistically significant correlation to language loss in the country.

Linguistic differentiation and Mayan language revitalization in Guatemala1

“…A number of Mayan language communities in Guatemala show signs of language shift from Maya to Spanish (cf. Garzon, Brown, Richards and Simón 1998; Hawkins 2005; Lewis 2001). As with many contemporary cases of language shift from indigenous to colonial languages (e.g.…”

Microscopic and macroscopic simulation of competition between languages

“…More quantitatively, the number of people in Wales speaking Welsh, and in Scotland speaking Gaelic (both competing with English), and in Peru speaking Quechua instead of Spanish, could be described over the 20th century by the above equation with same a = 1.31 ± 0.25 and only slightly different s between 0.26 and 0.46. (For Guatemala see [12].) With an active feedback term for s, also bilingual communities like Canada (French minority and English majority) can be simulated as stable.…”

Indigenous Language Usage and Maintenance Patterns among Indigenous People in the Era of Neoliberal Multiculturalism in Mexico and Guatemala

“…The methods of counting indigenous people differ from one country to another in Latin America. Some countries use the ability to speak an indigenous language, whereas others take into account an individual's self-identity or whether a 'person wears traditional clothes (Hawkins 2005;Layton and Patrinos 2006;Patrinos 1994). In Latin America, researchers estimate the number of indigenous people by one or a combination of the following measures: indigenous language usage, self-identification, and residence in indigenous territories or an area in which indigenous people are geographically concentrated (Gonzalez 1994;Layton and Patrinos 2006).…”

“…As a result of the oppression and subordination of indigenous groups in many parts of Latin America, many indigenous children no longer learn indigenous languages and speak only the dominant language-Spanish, in most countries. Therefore, numerous indigenous languages in the region risk extinction (England 2003;Hale et al 1992;Hawkins 2005). Indigenous people's disadvantaged socioeconomic status and the pressure of assimilation into mestizo or Ladino society have been influential on indigenous language loss.…”