Analysis of the uses of languages (indigenous and non-indigenous) among Toba/Qom and Mbýa children from Argentina drawing on experience at play

Abstract

In view of their bilingualism, these communities adopt specific strategies to everyday language use. This paper addresses the development of communication skills in less dominant languages in bilingual children from Argentina’s indigenous communities (Toba / Qom and Mbyá). In particular, we set out to emphasize how certain recreational practices have impacted on use of less dominant languages among children in these groups (Toba / Qom in the first case, and Spanish in the second). The article is organized into five sections. It begins with a brief contextualization of the sociolinguistic situation of the languages spoken in the empirical referents analysed, to facilitate understanding of the importance and singularity of the case studies presented. We go on to develop the methodology supporting our research and finally consider the selected theoretical framework regarding the anthropology of childhood, while revisiting a number of anthropological contributions to studies on play and language. We also refer to the Toba / Qom and Mbyá definitions of childhood and analyse games and language use among children.