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us to stand in a corner for a long time without moving. Or he
hit us here with a wooden ruler on our nails […] he hated the
Mapuche people. He did not like us to speak even a single
word in Mapuzungun."
Rosario Cayecul, Lago Rosario, Chubut 1993
Nevertheless, Mapuzungun has been maintained, albeit
restricted to sporadic use, especially in a ceremonial context.
Those born after the 1940s are unable to speak or understand
the language in most places. This is the main reason for the
decline in usage. In the province of Neuquén, Mapuzungun is
more important. There are young speakers and even some
children speak it in certain places, such as Ruca Choroy. In Río
Negro there are also some new speakers. These are people
who have taken courses taught by Mapuche teachers through
the Universidad Nacional del Comahue and elsewhere. I have
met some people who learned the language as adults with
varying degrees of competence.
In Chubut, the situation seems to be weaker and the number
of native speakers is very small. I met just seven new speakers
in five places in the province. They can speak with a certain
degree of fluency but cannot master the whole verb system,
such as subordinate clauses and the marking of agent-patient.
Challenges and threats
Some authors say that Mapuzungun is spoken in private
contexts and within the community as a way of hiding it, but that
the language has more vitality than is widely believed.
5
As an L2
user of the language, I was able to go into the communities to
DAVID
SUAZO
QUINTANA,
15/10/07
VIA
FLICKR
(CC
BY-NC
2.0)
DAVID
SUAZO
QUINTANA,
15/10/07
VIA
FLICKR
(CC
BY-NC
2.0)
DAVID
SUAZO
QUINTANA,
15/10/07
VIA
FLICKR
(CC
BY-NC
2.0)
JOVENGANDALF,
12/10/08
VIA
FLICKR
(CC
BY-SA
2.0)
FIESTOFORO,
16/2/10
VIA
WIKIPEDIA
(CC
BY-SA
3.0)
