Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2022
En las fronteras indígenas del Río de la Plata y Chile meridional, principalmente en la primera, la comunicación interétnica estuvo condicionada para las autoridades coloniales por una endémica escasez de lenguaraces e intérpretes, de quienes dependían debido a su habitual desconocimiento del mapu dungum, lengua del sur del reino de generalizada utilización en el siglo XVIII por todos los grupos nativos de la región. Con relación a estos últimos, en cambio, no son pocos los casos documentados de personas que habían incorporado el habla de Castilla (o español como se la denominaba) y la utilizaban en actividades de mediación —inclusive por circunstancial requerimiento de la administración— y de inteligencia. En este artículo, se examinan las distintas maneras en que los oficiales reales, los sacerdotes y especialmente los hombres y mujeres indígenas enfrentaron y resolvieron las dificultades inherentes a la adquisición de ambas lenguas y a las demandas de intermediación.
In the Indian frontiers of Río de la Plata and southern Chile, mainly in the first area, interethnic communication was conditioned for colonial authorities by an endemic scarcity of lenguaraces and intérpretes, on whom they depended for translation given their habitual ignorance of the mapu dungum, a language from the south of the reyno spoken generally in the eighteenth century by all native groups of the region. There are many documented cases, however, of native individuals who incorporated the Castilian tongue (or español, as it was named) and used it in mediation activities, including cases of circumstantial requirements of the administration, and intelligence. In this article, we examine the different ways in which royal officials, priests, and especially Indian men and women faced and solved the difficulties inherent in the acquisition of both languages and the demands of intermediation.
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