Shuara, a language that refused to die

UNESCO Courier, April, 2000 by Marcos Almeida

In Ecuador, where a third of the population speaks one or more indigenous languages, people had to wait until the new 1998 Constitution for formal recognition that "For the indigenous peoples, Quechua, Shuara and other ancient languages are officially used."

French linguist Louis-Jean Calvet notes that Shuar linguistic policy is atypical because it is completely independent of the state. "As a policy for a minority, decided by them and applied by them, it shows how the expansion of the world's steadily-growing language empires is not inevitable and that it is possible to fight to be different in a world that's becoming more and more uniform."

(*.) Journalist based in Quito, Ecuador