My country, my language?

Abstract

Introduction This chapter provides a glimpse into the difficult environment and the multiplicity of factors speakers of Indigenous languages in Peru encounter in their struggle for their languages to gain official recognition, be maintained and transmitted to the next generation. To set the scene, I will briefly review the status and language policies of Indigenous languages more broadly in Latin America and their interactions with economic and ecological factors, before turning to factors such as migration and intergenerational transmission of Indigenous languages including language maintenance efforts mainly in rural Peru, and conflicting policy perspectives in relation to minoritised Indigenous languages in Peru. These case studies across rural and urban domains show major shortcomings in terms of the implementation of existing legislation for Indigenous languages. Nevertheless, they are useful to identify the main factors that may ultimately lead to language choice across family and public domains. The chapter shows that there are no overarching solutions to the problem of Indigenous language survival and generational transmission. However, there are options to provide accessibility and transmission through official support and boots on the ground. Show more