2025:Program/Flourishing Nawat: Writing the future
Session title: Flourishing Nawat: Writing the future
- Session type: Lecture
- Track: Education
- Language: en
🎥 Session recording: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WIKIMANIA_Day_3_Meru_-_Flourishing_Nawat%2C_writing_the_future.webm 🎥
A personal perspective from an adult student who became part of the mission to revive Nawat, the Indigenous language of El Salvador, which has fewer than 200 native speakers and is on the verge of extinction. This session will explore how students’ collective knowledge has played a crucial role in revitalizing Nawat and ensuring its future by integrating it into digital platforms like Wikipedia.
Description
This session aims to showcase how the Nawat language of El Salvador is flourishing and open to the world, demonstrating that it has a future beyond its current endangered status. Through the Wikipedia project, students are planting seeds with each article they write, contributing to a growing digital archive that will serve future generations. These articles not only preserve linguistic knowledge but also act as educational tools for native Nawat speakers, allowing them to learn about international figures and global topics in their own language.
Beyond linguistic preservation, this initiative also strengthens cultural connections. Salvadorans and the Salvadoran diaspora are like siblings who left their homeland to explore the world, now bringing back their knowledge to share with the Nawat community. Each article written is a step toward building a bridge that connects Nawat elders with different generations and people from around the world. This work ensures that the language flourishes on its own terms, emphasizing cultural appreciation while preventing appropriation. By doing so, we honor the voices of Nawat speakers and empower them to shape their own linguistic and cultural future.
- How does your session relate to the event theme, Wikimania@20 – Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability?
Nawat (the Salvadoran variant) is an endangered Indigenous language that has historically been excluded from large platforms where it could gain exposure and nourishment to flourish. This session embodies inclusivity by bringing Nawat into the Wikimedia ecosystem, ensuring that native speakers and learners alike have access to knowledge in their own language. It demonstrates impact by showing how Wikipedia is being used as a tool for language revitalization, helping to reconnect generations and bridge knowledge gaps. Finally, it promotes sustainability by planting the seeds for long-term preservation, ensuring that Nawat continues to grow through digital spaces and remains accessible to future speakers and scholars.
- What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?
Everyone can participate in this session
Resources
Speakers
- Valery Santillana
- I am from El Salvador and currently live in Canada. Since 2022, I have been an adult student at the online school Ne Ichan Safoura, where I have deepened my knowledge of Nawat. In 2023, I began contributing to Wikipedia by writing articles in Nawat, helping to expand digital resources for the language. Since 2024, I have also served as an interpreter for Timumachtikan Nawat (Héctor Martínez) at Ne Ichan Safoura, supporting the learning and revitalization of Nawat through translation and linguistic assistance.
- Héctor Martínez - TimumachtikanNawat
- Soy Héctor Josué Martínez Flores, un joven de Cojutepeque, Cuscatlán, El Salvador, hablante de náhuat, soñador y comprometido con la revitalización de nuestra lengua. Como uno de los 70 docentes especialistas en náhuat e identidad cultural certificados por el Ministerio de Educación (MINED), mi misión es garantizar que esta lengua ancestral siga viva y que las futuras generaciones puedan hablarla, escribirla y vivir en ella.
- Soy el fundador de Timumachtikan Nawat, la biblioteca virtual en náhuat más grande de El Salvador, y dirijo Ne Ichan Safoura, un espacio educativo independiente donde más de 1,000 estudiantes han aprendido la lengua a través de clases en español e inglés, además de talleres culturales e innovación cultural.
- Desde 2023, lidero el esfuerzo por documentar el náhuat en la Wikipedia, organizando editatones, capacitando colaboradores y revisando cada artículo publicado. A pesar de la falta de apoyo institucional, hemos logrado avances significativos con el esfuerzo de nuestra comunidad, posicionando el náhuat en el entorno digital.
- También he trabajado en la creación de contenido audiovisual en náhuat para redes sociales, para garantizar el acceso y la preservación de nuestra lengua. Junto con Nantzin Sixta Pérez García, publiqué Yultajtaketzalis, el primer diccionario de náhuat de El Salvador, un logro histórico que documenta nuestra variante lingüística y es un símbolo de resistencia.
- Gracias a este trabajo, he recibido diversos reconocimientos, entre ellos el título de Héroe de la Resistencia Indígena ante el Bicentenario otorgado por el Parlamento Centroamericano, así como premios y becas internacionales de UNESCO, Rising Voices y el País Vasco, que han reconocido nuestro esfuerzo en revitalización lingüística y digitalización del náhuat.
- Creo firmemente que el náhuat tiene un lugar en el mundo moderno y que su presencia en el ámbito digital es clave para su preservación. Mi compromiso es seguir impulsando proyectos que fortalezcan nuestra lengua y nuestra identidad, asegurando su continuidad para las futuras generaciones.
- Alicia Marroquín
- I am a teacher, an artist and an interpreter at Ne Ichan Safoura School of nawat. I began contributing to Timumactikan Nawat's kipedia in nawat project in 2023. I've writen articles in nawat mainly about important or influential women in an effort to highlight the contributions of women throughout history to the nawat speaking community.