Rejection-Identification Model and Minority Language Loss: The Case of the Historically Stigmatized Tlaxcalan Community in Mexico

Abstract

The present study employs the social identity and the rejection-identification frameworks to examine whether members of the minoritized and historically stigmatized Indigenous Tlaxcaltecah group in Mexico reveal a high ingroup identity and thus may be more engaged in the daily use of their heritage Nahuatl language. To this end we hypothesized that an individual’s victimization experience will be associated with concerns about the future of their own group’s cultural heritage via aspects of ingroup identity (self-identification with the minority group, pride in Tlaxcalan heritage), and that this mechanism will in turn be associated with the frequent daily use of the Nahuatl language. Taking into consideration the resources depletion model, we also expected that the proposed mechanisms would be validated in groups with higher rather than lower levels of well-being. The sample consisted of 2,338 adults and the study was carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results supported the rejection-identification model, and yet our model explained Indigenous language loss (a lower level in the frequency of use) rather than its maintenance in a group with high well-being. Our findings suggest that both the sense of ethnic pride and concerns related to the ethnic and linguistic-cultural survival of the group seem to be among the possible risk factors related to disuse of the heritage language in the Tlaxcalan community.