Abstract
Language is the human universal mode of communication, and is dynamic and constantly in flux accommodating user needs as individuals interface with a changing world. However, we know surprisingly little about how language responds to market integration, a pressing force affecting indigenous communities worldwide today. While models of culture change often emphasize the replacement of one language, trait, or phenomenon with another following socioeconomic transitions, we present a more nuanced framework. We use demographic, economic, linguistic, and social network data from a rural Maya community that spans a 27-year period and the transition to market integration. By adopting this multivariate approach for the acquisition and use of languages, we find that while the number of bilingual speakers has significantly increased over time, bilingualism appears stable rather than transitionary. We provide evidence that when indigenous and majority languages provide complementary social and economic payoffs, both can be maintained. Our results predict the circumstances under which indigenous language use may be sustained or at risk. More broadly, the results point to the evolutionary dynamics that shaped the current distribution of the world’s linguistic diversity.
Highlights
Market integration in indigenous communities often leads to the adoption of norms and practices, including language, from the cultural majority (Kandler et al, 2010; Isern and Fort, 2014)
When evaluating the effects of a mixed economic strategy on household net income in 2017, we found that the number of hectares under cultivation did not predict net income [Estimate =–2.33, 90% highest posterior density intervals (HPDIs): (–4.95, 0.31)], the presence of a male household head (MHH) who engaged in wage labor increased household income significantly [Estimate = 4.22, 90% HPDI: (0.97, 7.43); Supplementary Figure 8]
In the Yucatec Maya setting, while the number of Spanish speakers has significantly increased over the course of market integration, this has not been at the expense of Yucatec Mayan; the latter remains universal in the village
Summary
Market integration in indigenous communities often leads to the adoption of norms and practices, including language, from the cultural majority (Kandler et al, 2010; Isern and Fort, 2014). A comprehensive account is lacking of the social and economic factors that drive individual decision-making about language learning, use, transmission, and how these factors change following market integration. These dynamics are vital to predict the long-term fate of linguistic environments, and more broadly to understand the vast diversity that characterizes language, one of the defining traits of our species. Assorting with the same-language speakers further allows individuals to minimize coordination costs by interacting with others who share the same social norms, preferences, or expectations (McElreath et al, 2003)
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