Syncretism as a strategy for the survival of native languages in Mexico

This paper identifies the concept of syncretism as a general definer of indigenous ethnic peoples’ strategies to enhance their linguistic identity in a context featured by social pressures. By observing both social interactions and the maintenance of indigenous languages in Mexico, from which over 50 percent have a good level of vitality -in spite of unfavorable language policies-, we can document the reasons of language maintenance in the syncretic dynamics of lexical morphology and code-switching, which constitute a symbolic social reproduction strategy which empowers and balances the sociolinguistic ecosystem. Conclusions are drawn in the sense of a complex sociolinguistic situation where indigenous communities apply some internal dynamics by assuming their language transformations; at the same time, they cope with the external dynamics arising out of capitalist pressures that gradually impose their standards.