The Coahuiltecan language is considered extinct because less than 1,000 people now speak this language. The Institute is dedicated to the study and revival of the Coahuiltecan language. For a Coahuiltecan language dictionary and other relevant information published by the Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, visit the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
In 2023, funded by Humanities Texas, the Institute launched a formal Coahuiltecan Language Reclamation Program which will eventually revive our language. We also began teaching an in-person Beginner’s Course at Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos for community members and the public. Dr. Jessica L. Sánchez Flores is facilitating this program. She is of Nahua descent, grew up in a town near Iguala, Guerrero and is currently an Assistant Professor at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, CO. The original team she assembled is listed below. For revitalization work in 2024, Dr. Sanchez is assembling a new team that will help launch the Beginner’s Course online, create an Intermediate Course, and develop an online database tool to support language learners.
Eduardo de la Cruz who is a native Nahuatl speaker and has taught Nahuatl full time for twelve years, and currently holds the position of director at IDIEZ (Zacatecas Institute of Teaching and Research in Ethnology), a Mexican non-profit where he heads Nahua culture and language revitalization projects. In 2023, he advised the program on curriculum and instruction.
Judith Landeros, assisted with curriculum development in 2023. She is a doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin studying Cultural Studies in Education. Her family is from the ancestral territories of the P’urhépecha and Chichimeca. She is a former bilingual early childhood teacher and currently works in the Curriculum and Instruction department, College of Education at the University of Texas at Austin.
Luis F. Avilés González, Ph.D., In 2023, supported the program as the Linguistics Specialist. He was an assistant instructor at the University of Texas at Austin, and a third year graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in Iberian and Latin American Linguistics. He is currently Program Manager at the UCCS Pre-Collegiate Program, in Colorado Springs, CO.
Bobbie Garza-Hernandez, in 2023, led the outreach effort that engaged the community in the language program, which includes input about what they want to learn and how. Bobbie majored in Communications and Hispanic Relations at St. Edward’s University and is a resident of San Marcos, Texas. In 1997 she launched her public relations company, Pink Consulting, after serving as the Chief of Staff to former Austin Mayor Gus Garcia. She continues to work in community engagement for clients in Austin, TX.
This series of 6 weekly classes is focused on the Coahuiltecan language and cultural traditions as informed by the Miakān Garza Tribe. This is a unique opportunity to deepen your connection with your Indigenous heritage and join a community dedicated to preserving and revitalizing our cultural practices.
Please note that our class is limited to 16 community members. Once a spot opens or the next offering of this course is becoming available, we will be notifying applicants.
We look forward to sharing this journey with you.
The Institute released its Coahuiltecan Traditional Ceremonial Songs CD and accompanying manual. This manual is made available to members of the Coahuiltecan community and people who follow an indigenous, ceremonial path.
For more information please contact the Institute.
Click on the button above the song for YouTube listening.
(Opening song)
Yana yana, yawana yo
Yana yana, yawana yo
Yana yana, yawana yo
Yana yana, yawana yo
Yan eya na ei nei
Yana yana, yawana yo
Yana yana, yawana yo
Yana eya na ei nei yo way.
“Water Spirit, that’s all there is. That’s all that there is.”
(Opening song)
Maham e yana yana wana yo
Maham e yana yana wana yo
Maham e yana yana wana yo
Maham e yana yana wana yo
Eya na ei ney
Maham e yana yana wana yo
Eya na ei nei yo way.
“Have you partaken of Spirit, Water Spirit, that is in all (Earth Life).”
(Opening song)
Yana yana yo yana yo yo yo
Yana yana yo yana yo yo yo
(change tone down)
Yana yana yo yana yo yo yo
(change tone down)
Yana yana yo yana yo yo yo
Yana wana yo yana yohui no Eya na ei nei yo way.
“Water is life, it is everything, everything, everything. Water Spirit forms living things. With all that there is.”
(Opening song)
Yana wei ney neyo, iya xa we nayo
Yana wei ney neyo, iya xa we nayo
Yana wei ney neyo, iya xa we nayo
Yana wana iya xa we ney,
Eya na ei nei yo way.
“Moved by the life of water we sing and dance to everything. Water Spirit we sing and dance, with all that there is.”
