Mapuche Language

The Mapuche language, Mapudungun (from mapu 'earth, land' and dungun 'speak, speech') is a language isolate spoken in south-central Chile and west central Argentina by the Mapuche (from mapu 'earth' and che 'people') people. It is also spelled Mapuzugun and sometimes called Mapudungu or Araucanian (Araucano). The latter was the name given to the Mapuche by the Spaniards but nowadays both the Mapuche and others avoid this usage as the exonym is a remnant of Spanish colonialism, and has therefore become an offensive term. The number of speakers differs depending on definition and research methodology. In the political struggle between the ethnic minority and the Chilean and Argentinian governments the different groups support different research results. Mapuche-written publications from 2008 supports research showing approximately 700,000 speakers. Other results report approximately 240,000 speakers, with 200,000 in the Central Valley of Chile and 40,000 in several Argentine provinces, where some 150,000 people use the language regularly.

Mapuche lacks substantive protection or promotion, despite the Chilean government's commitment to improve the situation and provide full access to education in Mapuche areas in southern Chile. There is an ongoing political debate over which alphabet to use as the standard alphabet of written Mapudungun.