The motivation for learning minority second languages: Spanish-speaking university students who study the Nahuatl language

Abstract

This article presents a study on the motivations of hegemonic language speakers to learn minority second languages, focusing on the case of the Nahuatl language. Two situations, one in which Nahuatl is regarded as a foreign language and another where it is seen as a national language, were analyzed to identify the association of motives with certain contexts. The results reveal that instrumental motives have greater weight than integrative ones, even when intrinsic factors predominate. This is so because Nahuatl is not seen or perceived as a spoken language in the learners’ social and academic context, and because the predominant Hispano-centric linguistic ideologies tend to highlight its value in a historical or nationalist ideological way. Thus, the integrative orientation responds more to a desire to join an imagined national or professional community rather than getting in touch with the Nahua community or being part of it. Learning Nahuatl is therefore seen more as acquiring knowledge than as a means of communication or integration.