Digital repository preserves El Salvador’s last Indigenous language 

Languages preserve more than words. They carry history, traditions, and knowledge that cannot be fully translated or replaced. 

For Hugo Salgado, assistant professor in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Iowa State University, protecting one of the world’s most endangered languages means documenting not only how it is spoken, but also the cultural knowledge embedded within it. 

Through an open-access digital repository, Salgado is preserving Nawat, the only Indigenous language still spoken in El Salvador. By recording conversations with native speakers, the project captures oral histories, traditional ecological knowledge, music, and everyday communication that might otherwise disappear as the number of fluent speakers continues to decline. 

Preserving language through lived experiences 

Ini Tay Tinat, which means ‘This is what we say’ in Nawat, serves as both a linguistic archive and a cultural resource. Over the past three summers, Salgado has traveled to Santo Domingo de Guzmán, one of the last communities where native Nawat speakers remain, to record interviews with elders who continue to speak the language. 

The repository currently contains 57 interviews documenting a wide range of topics, including traditional medicine, local history, oral storytelling, music, and environmental knowledge. 

“What we’re trying to do with this project is document as much of the Indigenous knowledge as possible that the Nawat people have,” Salgado said. “I’m interested in local history, ethnobotany, and artistic traditions because much of this knowledge exists only in Nawat.” 

Many of the remedies, historical accounts, and cultural practices shared during the interviews have never been formally documented. 

“The interesting thing is that this type of knowledge is usually not transmitted in Spanish,” Salgado said. “It is only in Nawat.” 

In addition to preserving cultural knowledge, the repository provides researchers with a valuable linguistic corpus that can be used to better understand the language structure, variation, and use while also supporting community-led language revitalization efforts. 

From personal curiosity to scholarly research 

Salgado’s interest in Nawat began unexpectedly while he was completing his undergraduate degree in social communications in El Salvador. 

After discovering a grammar book about the Nawat language in the university library, he realized he knew little about the Indigenous language still spoken in his own country. 

“I didn’t even know that we had an Indigenous language that was still spoken,” Salgado said. “From that moment, I became obsessed.” 

Since few educational materials existed at the time, Salgado learned from native speakers by regularly visiting Indigenous communities, recording conversations, and gradually immersing himself in the language. 

“It was old-school language learning,” he said. “At first, I didn’t understand anything they were saying, but little by little I learned by listening to the elders.” 

Those early experiences shaped the repository. 

“When I was building it, I thought this was something I would have wanted to have when I started learning Nawat,” Salgado said.

Documenting knowledge before it disappears 

Fieldwork remains one of the most demanding aspects of the project. 

Salgado transports recording equipment through mountainous terrain, often hiking long distances to document interviews in remote locations. Conversations are carefully planned but often evolve as participants recall stories or introduce new topics. 

“You have to be a master of improvisation,” Salgado said. 

The greatest challenge, however, is time. 

Many of the fluent speakers documenting their knowledge are elderly, making language preservation increasingly urgent. 

“Some of the elders I recorded in 2025 have already passed away,” Salgado said. “This is very urgent work.” 

Each interview preserves not only the language itself but also distinct ways of speaking, cultural practices, and community histories that may otherwise be lost. 

Among the project’s most significant discoveries are detailed accounts of medicinal plants, traditional pottery techniques, and oral histories describing the effects of the 1932 volcanic eruption on the community – knowledge Salgado says has rarely been formally recorded. 

Supporting language revitalization 

Although the repository is publicly available, Salgado views it as only the first phase of a much larger effort. 

His long-term goal is to secure additional funding to transcribe every interview, translate them into Spanish, add subtitles, and develop educational materials that can be used by students learning Nawat. 

The archive is already being used by language learners in El Salvador and members of the Salvadoran diaspora seeking to reconnect with their heritage. 

“People are making use of it,” Salgado said. “They’re learning not only the language, but also cultural aspects of the Nawat people that have never been recorded before.” 

Salgado also hopes to train heritage speakers within Indigenous communities to conduct future documentation themselves, expanding the project beyond his own fieldwork. 

Preserving identity through language 

For Salgado, the significance of the project extends beyond linguistics. 

Research has shown that Indigenous communities experiencing language loss are at greater risk of losing cultural identity and facing broader social challenges. Preserving Nawat, he said, helps safeguard not only a language but also traditions, histories, and perspectives it carries.  

“Each language is like a window through which we understand reality,” Salgado said. “If we lose a language, we lose that window.” 

As the repository continues to grow, Salgado hopes it will serve both as a lasting record of Nawat and as a resource that encourages future generations to learn, preserve, and celebrate a language whose histories continue to shape El Salvador’s cultural identity. 

Contact 

Hugo Salgado, World Languages and Cultures, salga@iastate.edu, 515-294-6476 

Access 

The repository is entirely free to use, but access is granted upon request to protect the integrity of the materials and honor community agreements. 

To request access, contact: salga@iastate.edu.