The Federal Ministry of Culture confirmed that, after 85 years since they were last spoken, these languages are disappearing due to cultural mixing and the death of their last speakers.
The Federal Ministry of Culture confirmed the extinction of at least four indigenous languages in the state of Chihuahua; some were still spoken 75 years ago. These are the Chinarra, Chinipa, Tubar, and Conchos languages, which existed in Chihuahua but are now considered extinct, as confirmed by the federal agency through a freedom of information request submitted by El Heraldo de Juárez.
“The Chinarra language is considered extinct, but there is no recorded exact date of its disappearance, as it died out a long time ago, probably during the 19th or early 20th century, due to historical processes of acculturation and language shift. The language disappeared before modern linguistic records and detailed censuses were established,” the response states.
In the case of the Chinipa language, it is considered culturally and linguistically extinct for a long time, “probably absorbed by the mestizo population and the surrounding indigenous languages. No speakers have been known since at least the 1950s.”
“Colonial records of the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century already mentioned the Chinipas as one of the peoples inhabiting the region. The current population in the municipality of Chínipas predominantly speaks Spanish,” the text explains.
On the other hand, the Tubar language became extinct in the state of Chihuahua between 1930 and 1940, according to information provided by the Ministry of Culture.
Currently, Tubar is considered a dead language and has no known native speakers in the state. “Research conducted in the early 20th century, such as Sauer’s in 1934, documented the existence of a few speakers at that time, but the language disappeared completely shortly afterward due to acculturation and the adoption of Spanish.”
Finally, the Concho language became extinct approximately 150 to 200 years ago, according to historical estimates. The Concho language was the most widely spoken indigenous language in Chihuahua in the 17th century. “At that time, there were 60,000 Concho speakers. However, the language ceased to be spoken about 150 to 200 years ago.”
Source: oem
