Origin Of Mexican Languages

Although today the vast majority of the Mexican population speaks

Spanish, the original languages of the country are Amerindian, or
indigenous. The origin of many of these indigenous languages is in
Mesoamerican, with linguistic data dating back to around 5,000 years
ago. Prior to 2,000 BC, Mesoamerica was in the Archaic period which
produced 3 major language families: Mayan, Mixe-Zoquean, and Oto-
Manguean. With the rise of the Olmec civilization beginning around
2,000 BC, many people began migrating across the region and taking
their languages with them. The Olmec borrowed from the Mixe-Zoquean
family, the Oto-Manguean language dispersed into central Mexico, and
the Mayan language began to diversify as its speakers migrated north.
With the decline of the Olmec civilization came the rise of other
civilizations, bringing with them their language families, like Uto-Aztecan,
and further developing the other languages. Certain civilizations, like the
Aztec, Mixtec, and Zapotec, remained in power and influenced the
spoken language within their region of power. Some of those languages
continue to be spoken today.
Indigenous Languages Of Mexico

The most widely spoken indigenous language of Mexico is Nahuatl. This

language belongs to the Uto-Aztecan family which researchers believe
originated in the southwestern region of the US. Around 500 AD,
speakers of the language migrated to Central Mexico. Nearly 100 years
later, Nahuatl became the most powerful language of the region, used by
the Aztec Empire. With the arrival of the Spanish colonizers, Nahuatl
gradually lost its position as the dominant language. Today, 1,376,026
continue to speak the language, 14.9% of them are monolingual.
Women make up the majority of the monolingual population. The
language can be heard in the states of Hidalgo, Guerrero, San Luis
Potosí, Puebla, and Veracruz.
The Yucatec Maya language, referred to as Maya, belongs to the Mayan
language and is principally spoken in the Yucatan Peninsula. It
originates from a 5,000-year old language family, Proto-Mayan. These
speakers migrated to the Yucatan Peninsula around 1,400 BC. Over
time, they became a powerful civilization, co-existing with other major
civilizations like the Olmec. Around the 9th century, the empire began to
collapse although, a large Maya population continued to exist in the
Yucatan region. Today, approximately 759,000 people continue to speak
the language particularly in the states of Yucatán, Quintana Roo, and
Campeche.
The third most widely spoken indigenous language is Mixtec which
belongs to the previously mentioned Oto-Manguean family. This
language grew in and around the region of present-day Oaxaca, Puebla,
and Guerrero, also referred to as La Mixteca. The Mixtec culture has
existed since pre-Columbian times and was a main competitor of the
Zapotec culture. The Mixtec rose to power in the 11th century, but fell
with the arrival of the Spanish. Today, 423,216 people speak the
language.
Foreign Languages In Mexico

Mexico has been a major immigrant destination country for hundreds of

years. Immigrants have mainly come from Europe, the US, Latin
America, and Asia. Many are foreign-born and many others are
descendants of immigrants. They have brought with them, and many
continue speaking, their native languages. These include: English,
German, Greek, Italian, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Chinese, and
Japanese.
Endangered Languages In Mexico

Although the government uses Spanish almost exclusively, it is not

technically the official language of Mexico. In fact, the Constitution of the
country defines the country as multilingual, recognizes the right of
indigenous people to use and preserve their languages, and promotes
bilingual education. Additionally, the government enacted the Law of
Linguistic Rights, recognizing 62 indigenous languages as co-official
national languages. Despite this effort to preserve and promote
indigenous languages, many of them are endangered today. Spanish
continues to dominate the society with younger generations discarding
the language of their ancestors. This is indirectly encouraged through
classist attitudes, pressures to assimilate into “modern culture,” and the
lower socioeconomic situation of many indigenous peoples. Today, at
least 21 languages are listed as critically endangered, 38 are definitely
endangered, 32 are severely endangered, and 52 are considered
vulnerable.
While 68 indigenous languages may sound like a lot, in fact over 130
indigenous languages, along with their unique customs and culture, have
vanished. As such, the government has placed a heavy emphasis on the
preservation and promotion of the native languages. The Law of
Linguistic Rights was created in 2002 to protect the native Mexican
languages and encourage bilingual and intercultural education.
The 1917 constitution that was drawn up after the Revolution also had a
strong focus on preserving the languages of Mexico and the
country’s multicultural identity. The constitution stated that every
indigenous group had the right to protect and enrich their own Mexican
language. Nowadays, there are over 7 million speakers of indigenous
languages in Mexico. While around 20% of the population identify
themselves with an indigenous group, only about 6% speak an
indigenous language of Mexico.

Some of the most widely spoken languages in Mexico, aside from

Spanish, are Nahuatl, which has more than 1.7 million speakers, Maya,
spoken by around 850,000 people, and Mixtec, with more than half a
million speakers. Interestingly, while Spanish is the dominant language
in Mexico, it is not defined as the official language in Mexican legislation.
This allows for more rights to be given to the remainder of Mexico’s
languages, including the right to use indigenous languages in
governmental communication and official documents.

Nahuatl, The Language of the Aztec Nation

Today, Spanish is the dominant language of Mexico and most central
and South American countries. There was a time, however, when
Nahuatl, a language spoken by the indigenous inhabitants of the Valley
of Mexico, was the language of art, science, religion, and high culture in
the part of Mesoamerica ruled by the Aztec Empire. Despite
colonization by the Spaniards, Nahuatl remains a spoken language with
numerous dialects and currently 1.6 million speakers. In regions with
large indigenous Nahua populations, it enjoys a status equivalent to
Spanish. It also has become a language that has helped to strengthen
the identity of the Nahua people.
What is Nahuatl?
Classical Nahuatl was the lingua franca, the common language of all the
differing peoples that came together under the Aztec civilization. Nahuatl
is part of the Uto-Aztecan language family, a family of languages spoken
in the western United States and Mexico. The Uto-Aztecan family also
includes languages such as the Shoshoni language spoken in the
American west. The branch of Uto-Aztecan which includes Nahuatl is
Southern Uto-Aztecan. Nahuatl has many different dialects, not all of
which are mutually intelligible. The variety within Nahuatl is great enough
that it can be divided into western and eastern variants. The dialects of
Nahuatl within the Valley of Mexico most closely resemble Classical
Nahuatl.

Speakers of Nahuatl: the Nahua People

The Nahua probably originated from the deserts of northwestern Mexico
and the American Southwest. Around 500 AD, the earliest Nahua arrived
in the Valley of Mexico and adopted agriculture and urban living which
were already being practiced by Mesoamerican civilization. By the 13th
century, the Nahua had established numerous city-states throughout the
Valley of Mexico.
One of the last migrations of Nahua into the Valley of Mexico from
farther north were the Mexica who arrived around 1200 AD and
eventually settled on an island in Lake Texcoco. On the island, they built
the city that would later become Tenochtitlan. Tenochtitlan grew in
power and in the 15th century, Tenochtitlan formed the triple alliance
with Tlacopan and Texcoco forming the Aztec Empire. It was through
the expansion of the Aztec Empire that Nahuatl became a widely spoken
language across Mexico and Central America. By 1519, when the
Conquistadors arrived, Nahuatl in its classic form was the language of
administration, law, science, and religion.