Pascual speaking Sakapulteko

This video was recorded by Daniel Bögre Udell in Cusco, Peru at the Regional Congress of Indigenous Languages for Latin America and the Caribbean. The Sakapultek language, also known as Sakapulteko, is spoken by about 15,000 speakers in Guatemala, mostly in El Quiché department, as well as in Guatemala City. It is a Mayan language, part of the Greater Quiché branch thereof, and is closely related to the K’iche’ language.

While many, even young parents, still speak Sakapulteko, transmission to younger generations is limited, with most becoming monolingual in Spanish. Literacy among native speakers is below 1%, but a promising 16% of L2 learners are literate in the language as well.