Bogotá – Imagine escaped slaves during the colonization of the Americas searching high and low for a haven where they can hide from all their struggles while learning to live within a foreign land. That scene depicts the challenges faced by the ancestors of the Palenquero people of Colombia.
The Palenquero or Palenque people are of African descent and are known to speak the only Spanish-based creole language in Latin America. However, many native members have shied away from using their people’s language. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is similar to the difficulties many indigenous groups around the world face. How does the Palenquero story end?
History and Identity
Before looking any further at the language issues of the Palenquero, it is best to know their community’s history first. As mentioned earlier, their communities were founded by escaped slaves during the colonization of the Americas. They purposefully lived in areas that were difficult to access as they wanted to be in a safe space away from the difficulties of living under the colonizers. The Palenquero’s struggles as an ethnic group reflect the struggles that the Afro-Colombian communities once experienced. Over time, the people’s number grew. They gradually developed their own economic, social, and political structures. Also, as they further established their communities, their language began to form distinctly as a cultural mark.
Palenquero Language
As the former slaves gathered together to establish a new community, many members spoke various African languages. Their people then spoke a kind of pidgin to help them communicate with each other. Later on, their communication developed through another language, which is uniquely theirs.
It is such an extraordinary experience to witness the power of language to build bonds within an ethnic community. Against the hardships they’re all going through, the people in the society formed their own language to better connect. Based on studies of the Palenquero language, it is not mutually intelligible with Spanish. However, it is undeniable that some words are derived from Spanish. It seems that with this kind of history, the Palenquero people see their language as a symbol of their cultural resistance, identity, and self-belonging as a community.
Sadly, as the Palenquero communities face the modern world, many of them tried to assimilate into society. The Palenquero language quickly declined in usage as younger members started to speak Spanish or English instead of the Palenquero. There was even a period in 1998 where it was recorded that only about 3,000 people speak the Palenquero language in the village of San Basilio de Palenque. This town served as an important cultural space in the people’s history as it is the only one that survived among the many palenques that existed in the past.
Hope for a Revival
Even with the San Basilio de Palenque being a small village and home to fewer Palenqueros, its heart is beating strongly. The Palenquero ethnic group continues to celebrate its African roots, and recent efforts are in progress to revitalize their language.
At present, younger people can learn more about their native tongue as it is taught in school. It is still a long way from having the Palenquero language fully back into people’s daily lives. Nonetheless, it is a good start. Many community leaders are hoping that interest will pick up and more will learn to love and be proud of their ethnic language. Perhaps that is a good dream to look forward to in the coming years.
Photo by Jorge Gardner on Unsplash, https://unsplash.com/@gardnerjorge
