The total number of Ayapeneco speakers remaining in Mexico: two. The men live some 500 meters apart in the tropical lowlands of Tabasco state. But Manuel Segovia, 75, and Isidro Velazquez, 69, don’t like one another and refuse to talk. The Syndey Morning Herald reports that there are 68 indigenous languages in Mexico; many of them are facing extinction but the situation seems most severe with Ayapeneco. According to ABC News:
The National Indigenous Language Institute is planning one last attempt to hold classes so Segovia and Velazquez can pass on their knowledge to other locals — before the language completely disappears.
Segovia says he knows it’s a race against time. “When I was a boy, everybody spoke it,” he said. “It’s disappeared little by little, and now I suppose it might die with me.”
A similar tragedy is unfolding in Colombia; half of the 68 indigenous languages spoken there are on the verge of extinction. Colombia’s potmarked topography, with dense jungles in near proximity to high mountains, allowed many groups to keep their independent languages and traditions going despite Spanish imperialism. The traditions that survived centuries have been deracinated by the drug war in Colombia; the internal migration underway over the past generation in Colombia has led to youths moving to cities, where they hone their Spanish. Today only 200 people speak Barasana, maybe 50 speak Uitoto.
Photo from Guardian.co.uk
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