Socio-Intercultural Analysis of the Displacement of the Yoremnokki in Jahuara II, El Fuerte, Sinaloa

Abstract

The linguistic shift of the yoremnokki language is a fact; in order to study this phenomenon, an ethnographic study was carried out in 2019 in Jahuara II, one of the areas with the highest Yoreme indigenous ancestry in El Fuerte Sinaloa, Mexico. The analysis was carried out with a socio-intercultural approach in which intercultural, intrasocial and intracultural aspects are considered.

In intercultural aspects, we found that the historical subjugation of colonization, the prolongued imposition of the Spanish language, the role of institutions of indigenous control of the State, late changes in indigenous legislation and in the recognition of the yoremnokki language, have generated linguistic displacement.

In intrasocial matters, mass communication media have brought significant intergenerational cultural changes. The Yoreme Mayo are willing to keep their language as long as it is not an obstacle to the political and economic relationship with non-indigenous people.

In intracultural matters, we found the lack of a solid Yoreme organization and the centuries-old tradition of intergenerational language restriction; children show a marked self-discrimination.