Linguistic Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the States of Latin America

Authors

Jose Manuel Perez Fernandez, University of Oviedo

First Page

379

Abstract

The protection of language rights of speakers of indigenous languages has experienced important developments in the Latin American sphere, which has served as a framework for the whole process of recognition of cultural and ethnical identity of Indigenous Peoples. This reflects a rejection of assimilation, and an assertion of multicultural and multilingual aspects in Latin American societies. On the one hand, the author focuses on the role that international law instruments related to human rights, those for the general protection of minorities and those specific for the indigenous peoples, may perform in the recognition of linguistic rights when granting legal protection of minimum standards and, at the same time, insisting on changes in internal law. On the other hand, the author analyzes the treatment of indigenous languages by the new Latin American constitutions and their legal developments. This treatment fluctuates between providing the language with an official status or with articles to safeguard the language as an integral part of the state's cultural heritage, by including some positive linguistic rights.

Recommended Citation

Jose Manuel Perez Fernandez, Linguistic Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the States of Latin America, 6 Intercultural Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 379 (2011).
Available at: https://scholarship.stu.edu/ihrlr/vol6/iss1/15