number of indigenous languages remain important, each spoken by several million people. They include Quechua in the countries of the former Inca empire (Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, where it is called Quichua); Aymara, too, is spoken widely in Bolivia and around the Peruvian shore of Lake Titicaca; Guaraní is the lingua franca of Paraguayans, spoken at home even by members of the country’s elite; a score of Mayan languages are spoken in Guatemala and parts of southern Mexico. In all, Mexico has more than 50 Indian languages in current use, including Nahuatl, the tongue of the Aztecs.
