Erika Jaramillo
Erika Jaramillo
Mexihcah [më-SHEEK-ah]
Náhuatl [pronounced na-WHA-tle] is an Aztekian language that has been spoken in central Mexico since the 7th century CE. And while it is now mostly found in remote rural villages in Central Mexico, more than a million people still use it. Poverty and lack of adequate funding and schooling has meant there are fewer and fewer teachers willing to teach in Náhautl. Today, the linguae franca is Spanish. There are less and less native Náhautl speakers and the language is now considered endangered. Language is the key to a culture. As languages die out, cultures are lost to the wind. There are currently 3,000 endangered languages around the world. I designed Mexihcah — the word for indigenous Náhautl-speaking people in Central Mexico — to express the significance of language revitalization and preservation, and to demonstrate that language is a living breathing entity.
Erika Jaramillo
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