The positive relationship between indigenous language use and community-based well-being in four Nahua ethnic groups in Mexico

Previous research suggests that the retention of Indigenous languages may be a protective factor for the psychological and physical health of their speakers. Although this relationship can be vital for supporting the well-being of Indigenous communities, its precise nature continues to be elusive. In a recently published articleopens in new window in Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, researchers Justyna Olko, Katarzyna Lubiewska, Joanna Maryniak, Gregory Haimovich, Eduardo de la Cruz, Beatriz Cuahutle Bautista, Elwira Dexter-Sobkowiak, and Humberto Iglesias Tepec examined the mediating effect of positive emotions experienced when using Indigenous language on the relationship between Indigenous language use and speakers’ well-being among four Nahua ethnic groups in Mexico that represent complex cultural traditions harkening back to pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica.

The researchers’ approach to exploring this relationship is innovative in several ways. Most significantly, it is not based on the retention or knowledge of language but rather on its actual everyday practice and the positive emotions associated with communication in the language. They used an emic well-being scale developed during qualitative fieldwork in these Nahuatl language–speaking communities, recognizing the Indigenous population’s holistic, relational, and collective view of health, happiness, and a good life. Indigenous conceptualizations of well-being are strongly grounded in family and community-based relationships that provide social support. In addition, the researchers decided to focus on the use of Nahuatl in the family domain because such use is crucial for intergenerational transmission of the language and for preserving traditional socialization spaces and community-level interactions. The researchers also took into account the role of positive emotions related to speaking the heritage language as a mediator of the influence of the language use on community-based well-being.

Analyses revealed that the relation between the frequency of Nahuatl use at home and community-based well-being in the total sample was partially mediated by positive emotions experienced when speaking Nahuatl. Furthermore, the relation between Nahuatl use and well-being was also found to be moderated by group membership. Thus, the positive emotions from heritage language use turned out to be a significant mediator in the community of Atliaca in Guerrero, where Nahuatl is still spoken by the majority of community members. The direct relationship between speaking and well-being was significant for communities in the remaining three regions studied, but the effect was strongest for people in the region of Contla in Tlaxcala, who experienced the biggest loss of their heritage language while shifting to Spanish.

Indigenous communities today face strong assimilation pressures, and their languages are falling out of use. Olko et al.’s study, however, contributes to the solution for this pressing societal problem by showing that the use of heritage languages positively relates to their speakers’ well-being. Notably, this effect is significant in communities strongly affected by language loss and assimilation. The mechanism the researchers propose is based on actual language use as a factor in reinforcing bonds between an individual and their community, a relationship experienced through and strengthened by positive emotions linked to communicating in the ancestral language, which leads to increased levels of well-being. This knowledge should inform more appropriate and efficient strategies for language revitalization, social and psychological support for Indigenous groups, and educational policies.

This article is in the Social Psychology and Social Processes topic area. View more articles in the Social Psychology and Social Processes topic area.

Olko, J., Lubiewska, K., Maryniak, J., Haimovich, G., de la Cruz, E., Cuahutle Bautista, B., Dexter-Sobkowiak, E., & Iglesias Tepec, H. (2022). The positive relationship between Indigenous language use and community-based well-being in four Nahua ethnic groups in Mexico. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 28(1), 132–143. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000479opens in new window

Justyna Olko, PhD, is a professor in the Faculty of “Artes Liberales” at the University of Warsaw and director of its Center for Research and Practice in Cultural Continuity. She specializes in ethnohistory, sociolinguistics, contact linguistics, language endangerment and revitalization, and decolonizing research practices, with a special focus on Nahua language and culture. She is also involved in a program for revitalizing the Nahuatl language and works with researchers and activists committed to revitalizing endangered languages of ethnic minorities in Poland.

Katarzyna Lubiewska, PhD, is a cross-cultural psychologist. Her research interest is in intergenerational relations in families across cultures and the combination of emic and etic approaches to assessment of psychological constructs.

Joanna Maryniak, MA, is a research assistant at the Center for Research and Practice in Cultural Continuity, Faculty of “Artes Liberales,” University of Warsaw. Her research spans the issues of minoritized languages in Poland and other countries.

Gregory Haimovich, MA, is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of “Artes Liberales” at the University of Warsaw. He has a master’s degree in linguistics and Ibero-American studies from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is currently engaged in participatory-action research on the use of the Nahuatl language in health care in Sierra Norte de Puebla, Mexico.

Eduardo de la Cruz, MA, is a native speaker of Nahuatl from Chicontepec, Veracruz, in Mexico. Currently a PhD candidate in the Faculty of “Artes Liberales” at the University of Warsaw, he is a director of the Instituto de Docencia e Investigación Etnológica de Zacatecas, AC, in Mexico, where he coordinates revitalization projects of Nahua language and culture.

Beatriz Cuahutle Bautista, BA comes from the community of San Miguel Xaltipan, Tlaxcala, Mexico, and graduated from the program in applied modern languages at the Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala. She carried out a research stay related to the Nahuatl language at the University of Warsaw, Poland, and currently teaches Nahuatl and English.

Elwira Dexter-Sobkowiak, MA, is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of “Artes Liberales” at the University of Warsaw. Her doctoral research focuses on the impact of Spanish on Nahuatl and Tének, two Indigenous languages spoken in the Huasteca Potosina region in Mexico. She has done extensive fieldwork that involved a number of language documentation and revitalization projects in several Nahuatl- and Tének-speaking communities.

Humberto Iglesias Tepec, BA, is from Atliaca, in the municipality of Tixtla, in the state of Guerrero, Mexico. He is a native speaker of Nahuatl; since the age of 10 years, he has also spoken Spanish. He studied in the Faculty of Tourism at the Autonomous University of Guerrero and graduated in 2006 with a degree in teaching English as second language. Currently, he is an English and Nahuatl language teacher at Instituto de Educación Media Superior in the campus of Emiliano Zapata of Mexico City.