Also Known As: Mapuche,Maputongo,Araucano,Mapudungu
Description:
Mapudungun (from mapu 'earth, land' and dungun 'speak, speech') is a language isolate spoken in central Chile and west central Argentina by the Mapuche (from mapu and che 'people') people. It is also known as Mapudungu, Mapuche, and Araucanian (Araucano). The latter was the name given to the Mapuche by the Spaniards but nowadays both the Mapuche and their academic circles, avoid this usage. The number of speakers differs depending on definition and ways of researching. In the political struggle between the ethnic minority and the Chilean and Argentinian states the different groups support different research results. Mapuche-written works from 2008 supports research showing numbers of 700,000 speakers. Other groups support results pointing at numbers of 240,000, with 200,000 in the Central Valley of Chile and 40,000 in several Argentine provinces, where some 150,000 people use the language regularly.
Mapudungun lacks substantive protection or promotion, despite the Chilean government's commitment to improve the situation and provide full access to education in Mapuche areas in southern Chile. It is also worth mentioning the ongoing political struggle of which alphabet to be the..... full article at Wikipedia |