San Antonio is home to the last speakers of Iquito, an endangered language now fluently spoken by 26 people in the world, the youngest of whom is about 52 years old.
After centuries of pressure to assimilate into a Spanish-speaking culture, the San Antonio community is now expressing its desire to keep the indigenous culture and language alive.
“There is a great interest of late in documenting
endangered languages and doing all that can be done to maintain their
use. This project is of great significance because it involves a collaboration
between The University of Texas graduate students and an indigenous group
in this effort. It is a model for the many endangered languages of the
world.”
—Professor Joel Sherzer
