ABSTRACT
During the colonization of America, missionaries and Latinists were given the authority to translate and convert Indigenous languages into "proper" languages by creating grammars and alphabets based on the Latin language. Multiculturalism is limiting when considering language planning, as it is not able to effectively engage with Indigenous languages. It is necessary to consider an alternative ecological perspective that engages with the poetical, ethical and political dimensions of Indigenous languages. Grammaticalization and alphabetization operated as colonial technologies that defined Indigenous languages as "illiterate" incomplete languages. The standardization of Indigenous languages involved specific knowledge practices, institutions, discourses and technologies producing and maintaining colonial epistemic violence. In Colombia, like in many other countries that became independent from the Spanish Crown, the former centres of colonialism and imperialism have adapted to a certain way of living that is preserved by coloniality.
