Visibilité et revitalisation des langues autochtones latino-américaines : production d’un paysage linguistique

The majority of indigenous languages throughout the world are in a situation of serious endangerement. In Latin America, their presence, whether public or private in the daily life of its speakers tend to become rare. There is no doubt however that there exist a large number of visual and artistic manifestations which prove a certain degree of resistance of sociolinguistic revitalizations of various social group – whether in the context of urban migrations or on their places of origin, in which case the modifications in sociocultural practices tend to become semi-urban- based on the public use of such languages. Furthermore, in some countries, we can acknowledge a more constant use in official functions of indigenous languages in the public spaces in conformity with the language policies and planning. This paper focuses on a reflexion regarding the emergence and the production of a linguistic landscape and signposting in some Latin American indigenous languages, the use of which sustains its visibility and/or revitalization. Our main purpose is to demonstrate how the written use of indigenous languages in the public space or in institutional spaces constitutes partly a new strategy of literacy, of socio-territorial ownership and of functional normalization within Peruvian and Mexican environments where they used to be stigmatized and minorized in favor of language with a higher social prestige