Mapuche language

Mapuche (/məˈpuːtʃi/ mə-POO-che, Mapuche and Spanish: [maˈputʃe]; from mapu 'land' and che 'people', meaning 'the people of the land') or Mapudungun (from mapu 'land' and dungun 'speak, speech', meaning 'the speech of the land'; also spelled Mapuzugun and Mapudungu) is either a language isolate or member of the small Araucanian family related to Huilliche spoken in south-central Chile and west-central Argentina by the Mapuche people. It was formerly known as Araucanian, the name given to the Mapuche by the Spanish; the Mapuche avoid it as a remnant of Spanish colonialism.

Mapudungun is not an official language of Chile and Argentina, having received virtually no government support throughout its history. However, since 2013, Mapuche, along with Spanish, has been granted the status of an official language by the local government of Galvarino, one of the many communes of Chile. It is not used as a language of instruction in either country's educational system despite the Chilean government's commitment to provide full access to education in Mapuche areas in southern Chile. There is an ongoing political debate over which alphabet to use as the standard alphabet of written Mapudungun.

In 1982, it was estimated that there were 202,000 Mapuche speakers in Chile, including those that speak the Pehuenche and Huilliche dialects, and another 100,000 speakers in Argentina as of the year 2000. However, a 2002 study suggests that only 16% of those who identify as Mapuche speak the language (active speakers) and 18% can only understand it (passive speakers). These figures suggest that the total number of active speakers is about 120,000 and that there are slightly more passive speakers of Mapuche in Chile. As of 2013 only 2.4% of urban speakers and 16% of rural speakers use Mapudungun when speaking with children, and only 3.8% of speakers aged 10–19 years in the south of Chile (the language's stronghold) are "highly competent" in the language.

Speakers of Chilean Spanish who also speak Mapudungun tend to use more impersonal pronouns when speaking Spanish. In Cautín Province and Llifén contact with Mapuche language may be the reason why there is a lack of yeísmo among some Spanish speakers. The language has also influenced the Spanish lexicon within the areas in which it is spoken and has also incorporated loanwords from both Spanish and Quechua.