Mexico, the Congress of the language without official language – El Universal

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Mexico, the country with the largest number of Spanish speakers in the world (almost 120 million), arrives at the VII International Congress of the Spanish language which opens today in Puerto Rico, without having to that recognized language as official in its Constitution, unlike the rest of Latin American nations or even Equatorial Guinea.

the philosopher and poet Jaime Labastida, president of the Mexican Academy of language (AML), who is attending the congress in Puerto Rico, has promoted the legal recognition of the language of Cervantes as the language of Mexicans, and notes in an interview that even broached the subject with President Enrique Peña Nieto.

“in Mexico there is an implicit contempt for the Spanish language. Why? Because Mexico does not have the Spanish as its official language, although it is not only our mother tongue, but, as said Emilio Lledó- is our parent language, which makes us conceive ideas and that allows us to conceive the development of our intelligence. It is a real contradiction. We are the first Spanish-speaking country and the only one who does not recognize Spanish as its official language. I have done on several occasions this proposal (that the language be recognized in the Constitution), even before the president, Enrique Peña Nieto. And he said, ‘How is this? You really do not have an official language? ‘. ‘No, we’, I replied “says Labastida.

The dialogue between the academic and the President was in the forum” Mexico with quality education for all “in April 2013 in Boca Rio, Veracruz; also attended by the then Education Secretary Emilio Chuayffet.

According to the president of the AML, Peña Nieto “agreed” on the need for recognition to the Spanish as the official language, but three years have passed and there has been no official initiative in this regard.

‘you put it directly to the president?, asked to Labastida. Yes, the President Peña. And he asked me, “What can we do?”. “As you can issue a decree,” I replied. “By whom?” He asked the President. I said, “I Ask him Secretary of Public Education.” But so far it has not been done.

Legal recognition. Labastida admits that some people think that legal recognition of Spanish can lead to conflicts, the existence of indigenous languages ​​(according to the catalog of national indigenous languages ​​ published in 2009 by the National Institute . Indigenous Languages, INALI, there are 11 language families, 68 linguistic groups and 364 linguistic variants), who speak little more than six million Mexicans (INEGI)

“Many people say, ‘Oh, it will to crush indigenous languages’. Not true, indigenous languages ​​can be official where they speak, “says the writer, whose leadership in managing AML the book was published official language and national languages ​​in Mexico, compiled by Diego Valades, with trials of this and academic Concepción Company, Miguel León-Portilla, Patrick Johansson, Vicente Leñero, Adolfo Castanon, Felipe Garrido, José G. Moreno de Alba and Leopoldo Valiñas.

Mexican law has not lived up to the problem recognition of languages ​​in the country, not just the Spanish. In fact, the lack of an official language generated a court ruling against federal legislation and in favor of non-linguistic discrimination. In January, the Indian poet Mardonio Carballo managed via amparo the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional part of Article 230 of the Federal Telecommunications Act which stated that radio transmissions should be “national language”, understood as the Spanish, with that the use of indigenous languages ​​indigenous concession was limited. But right in the Constitution there is no official language, an argument that took the court to grant protection.

In the constitutions of the Spanish-speaking countries there are many examples where Spanish and indigenous languages ​​are recognized in equity. Article 140 of the Constitution of Paraguay recognizes the Spanish and Guaraní as official languages ​​since 1992. In Bolivia, the Spanish and 37 indigenous languages ​​are recognized as official.

Peru recognized in Article 83 of its Charter Magna in Spanish as an official language. He adds, “are also in official use Quechua and Aymara in the areas and how the law states. Other aboriginal languages ​​also integrate the cultural heritage of the nation. ” The Magna Carta of Ecuador attached to Castilian as the official language, but recognizes “the Kichwa and Shuar as official languages ​​of intercultural relations. The other ancestral languages ​​are for official use for indigenous peoples in the areas where they live and in the terms established by law. The State shall respect and encourage conservation and use. ” In Guatemala recognized in Article 143 of the Spanish as an official language and adds that “the vernacular languages ​​are part of the cultural heritage of the nation.”

Outside of America, two countries have modalities of inclusion of Spanish in its laws as an official language. Spain, in Article 3 of its Constitution, stresses that not only the “Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State”, but all Spaniards have the duty to know and the right to use and “other Spanish languages ​​shall also official in the respective autonomous communities. ” It is also the Spanish official in Equatorial Guinea, with a population of one million 222 thousand 442 inhabitants, which became independent from Spain only in 1968. Since 1982, Spanish is one of the three official languages, along with French (1984) and Portuguese (2010). But the native languages ​​or broken off Bantu trunk (Fang, Bubi, Ndowe, Bisio or Portuguese Creole Island Annobon) appear as “national cultural heritage”.

Mexico, in its Constitution to the XXI century , it has not recognized the language of Cervantes as an official, despite all the talk almost 119 million 530 thousand 753 people, including those indigenous speakers of other languages. The official recognition of the Spanish has been relegated, despite the wealth that has contributed to the language with writers such as Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Alfonso Reyes, Juan Rulfo, the six Cervantes Awards: Octavio Paz (Nobel Literature), Carlos Fuentes, Sergio Pitol, Jose Emilio Pacheco, Elena Poniatowska and Fernando del Paso.

Another proposal made by the government Jaime Labastida, and that has not materialized, is to create the Institute Alfonso Reyes who, like Cervantes , Goethe, Dante Alighieri or the Alliance Francaise, promote the language.