Miskito language

Last updated
Miskito
Miskitu
Native to Honduras, Nicaragua
Region North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, neighbouring areas
Ethnicity Miskito people
Native speakers
150,000 (2015–2021) [1]
Misumalpan
  • Miskito
Language codes
ISO 639-3 miq
Glottolog misk1235
ELP Mískito
Miskito language.svg
Geographic distribution

Miskito (Miskitu in the Miskito language) is a Misumalpan language spoken by the Miskito people in northeastern Nicaragua, especially in the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, and in eastern Honduras.

Contents

With around 150,000 speakers, Miskito is the most widely spoken of a family of languages of Nicaragua and Honduras that has come to be known as Misumalpan. This name is formed from parts of the names of the family's subgroups: Miskito, Sumo, Matagalpan. The relationship of some aspects of the internal family tree to the family is uncertain. However, it is clear that: (1) Miskito is apart from Sumo and Matagalpan, which seem to share a common lower node, and (2) in the past Miskito was heavily influenced by other languages like English, German and Dutch. Sumo is thought to have been dominant in the area before the period of Miskito ascendancy. Today the relationship has been reversed: many former Sumo speakers have shifted to Miskito, which has in turn heavily influenced the Sumo dialects. Several of these (Tawahka, Panamahka and Tuahka) constitute the Mayangna sub-branch of Sumo, while the Ulwa language is in another sub-branch. The Matagalpan branch of Misumalpan contains two languages that are now extinct: Matagalpa and Cacaopera. The latter was formerly spoken in parts of eastern El Salvador.

A timetable for a branch of the Jehovah's Witnesses on Big Corn Island in Inglish Kriol, Spanish and Miskitu Big or Great Corn Island, Nicaragua 02.jpg
A timetable for a branch of the Jehovah's Witnesses on Big Corn Island in Inglish Kriol, Spanish and Miskitu

In addition to many elements borrowed from other Misumalpan languages, Miskito has many loanwords from Germanic languages like English, German and Dutch. Even though Spanish is the official language of Nicaragua and Honduras, its influence on Miskito is much more recent and hence more superficial. Many other languages appear to have had influence on Miskito vocabulary and grammar, including various Sumi dialects, Arawak, Rama, Carib, and certain Western African languages.

Miskito Alphabet

The alphabet for Miskito consists of 19 letters, and includes vowels and consonants.

A (a), B (be), D (de), G (ge), H (ha), I (i), J (je), K (ka), L (el), M (em), N (en), P (pe), Q (ku), R (ar), S (es), T (te), U (u), W (dubilu), Y (yei).

History

Many of the Miskitos are native American and also mixed with British, Chinese, Dutch, German, North American, Latinos and African. The Miskito people had a strong relationship with the British and they signed the Treaty of Friendship and Alliance. Eventually, the British began to lose interest in the region, and Britain allowed Nicaragua to have uncontested claim over the Mosquito Coast. A treaty was signed in which a Miskito reserve, a self-governing entity that enjoyed semi-sovereign rights, was given to the Miskito people, but Honduras eventually took over the area.

In the 20th century the Miskito language started to dwindle. Honduras, being a former Spanish colony, officially used the Spanish language, and this stifled the proliferation of the Miskito language in the 20th century. In schools, children were forbidden from speaking Miskito for most of the 20th century and could only speak Spanish; young generations had less of an opportunity to practice the language.

In the 1990s, many groups lobbied against the rule and promoted bilingual schools to preserve the Miskito language. Twenty such bilingual schools exist.

Orthography and phonology

G. R. Heath wrote on Miskito grammar in American Anthropologist in 1913 and describes its orthography and phonology as follows:

The vowels a, e, i, o, u correspond almost exactly to the same sound of those letters in German.

The consonants g, j, s, w, y represent the sounds heard in the English words get, jet, set, wet, and yet; and the combination ch stands for the sound heard in the word chest. C by itself will not be used. The other letters have the same power as in English, except that the aspirate h is always to be pronounced, even at the end of a syllable.

The stress accent in Miskito is almost invariably on the first syllable.

When the grave and acute accents occur on the same vowel, will be imaginary accentuated just like English.

Nasalized vowels are sometimes met with: they resemble the ordinary vowels followed by a sound corresponding to the French n in mon. But as this nasal sound seems to be pronounced not after, but simultaneously with, the vowels, it seems better to mark the vowels with the tilde (˜), to indicate that the vowels themselves are nasalized. Such nasalized vowels are always long, thus: ã, , ĩ, õ, ũ.

The combination ng is a single sound: the double sound in the English word "longer" will be represented by ngg. [2]

There is still much controversy about Miskito orthography and it cannot be considered settled, even with printed Miskito grammars, Bible translations, and other texts.

Basic words

MiskitoEnglish
yuldog
matisrat
puscat
dildilbutterfly
tairimosquito
tuisatongue
maya waitnahusband
maya mairinwife

[3]

Old Miskito numbers

NumberMiskito
0apu, nul, zero
1kumi
2wal
3yumhpa
4walhwalh (2+2)
5matsip
6Matlalkahbi
7matlalkahbipurakum (6+1)
8matlalkahbipurawal (6+2)
9matlalkahbipurayumhpa (6+3)
10matawalsip
11matawalsippurakumi (10+1)
12matawalsippurawal (10+2)
20yawanaiska
21yawanaiskapurakum
30yawanaiskapuramatawalsip
40yawanaiska wal
100dusa kum
200dusa wal
1,000lal kum
1,000,000slilma kum

[ citation needed ]

Modern Miskito numbers

NumberMiskito
0zero
1wan
2tu
3tri
4for
5faip
6siks
7sem
8et
9nain
10ten
11lem
12tuelp
13tartin
14futin
15fiftin
16sikstin
17semtin
18itin
19naintin
20tuinhti
21tuinhtiwan
22tuinhtitu
23tuinhtitri
24tuinhtifor
25tuinhtifaip
26tuinhtisiks
27tuinhtisem
28tuinhtiet
29tuinhtinain
30tarti
40fati
50fifti
60siksti
70semti
80iti
90nainti
100andat or wan handat
101wan handatwan
102wan handattu
200tu handat
300tri handat
400for handat
500faip handat
600siks handat
700sem handat
800et handat
900nain handat
1,000wan tausin o tausin
1,001wan tausinwan
2,000tu tausin
3,000tri tausin
4,000for tausin
5,000faip tausin
6,000siks tausin
7,000sem tausin
8,000et tausi
9,000nain tausin
10,000ten tausin
100,000wan handat tausin
200,000tu handat tausin
300,000tri handat tausin
400,000for handat tausin
500,000faip handat tausin
600,000siks handat tausin
700,000sem handat tausin
800,000et handat tausin
900,000nain handat tausin
1,000,000wan milian
10,000,000ten milian
100,000,000wan handat milian
500,000,000faip handat milian
1,000,000,000wan bilian

By Felix Ramsin.[ citation needed ]

Months of the year

EnglishMiskito
JanuarySiakua kati
FebruaryKuswa kati
MarchKakamuk kati
AprilLihwainhka kati
MayLihmairin kati
JuneLi kati
JulyPastara kati
AugustSikla kati
SeptemberWis kati
OctoberWaupasa kati
NovemberYahbra kati
DecemberTrisu kati, Krismis kati

[ citation needed ]

Days of the week

EnglishMiskito
MondayMundi
TuesdayTusdi
WednesdayWinsdi
ThursdayTausdi
FridayPraidi
SaturdaySatadi
SundaySandi

By Felix Ramsin.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guarani language</span> Indigenous language, Paraguay variant

Guarani, specifically the primary variety known as Paraguayan Guarani, is a South American language that belongs to the Tupi–Guarani branch of the Tupian language family. It is one of the official languages of Paraguay, where it is spoken by the majority of the population, and where half of the rural population are monolingual speakers of the language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cebuano language</span> Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines

Cebuano is an Austronesian language spoken in the southern Philippines. It is natively, though informally, called by its generic term Bisayâ or Binisayâ and sometimes referred to in English sources as Cebuan. It is spoken by the Visayan ethnolinguistic groups native to the islands of Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, the eastern half of Negros, the western half of Leyte, and the northern coastal areas of Northern Mindanao and the eastern part of Zamboanga del Norte due to Spanish settlements during 18th century. In modern times, it has also spread to the Davao Region, Cotabato, Camiguin, parts of the Dinagat Islands, and the lowland regions of Caraga, often displacing native languages in those areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wyandot language</span> Iroquoian language

Wyandot is the Iroquoian language traditionally spoken by the people known as Wyandot or Wyandotte, descended from the Tionontati. It is considered a sister to the Wendat language, spoken by descendants of the Huron-Wendat Confederacy. It was last spoken, before its revival, by members located primarily in Oklahoma, United States, and Quebec, Canada. Linguists have traditionally considered Wyandot as a dialect or modern form of Wendat.

The phonology of Portuguese varies among dialects, in extreme cases leading to some difficulties in mutual intelligibility. This article on phonology focuses on the pronunciations that are generally regarded as standard. Since Portuguese is a pluricentric language, and differences between European Portuguese (EP), Brazilian Portuguese (BP), and Angolan Portuguese (AP) can be considerable, varieties are distinguished whenever necessary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muscogee language</span> Indigenous American language

The Muscogee language, previously referred to by its exonym, Creek, is a Muskogean language spoken by Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole people, primarily in the US states of Oklahoma and Florida. Along with Mikasuki, when it is spoken by the Seminole, it is known as Seminole.

The Portuguese language developed in the Western Iberian Peninsula from Latin spoken by Roman soldiers and colonists starting in the 3rd century BC. Old Portuguese, also known as Medieval Galician, began to diverge from other Romance languages after the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the Germanic invasions, also known as barbarian invasions, in the 5th century, and started appearing in written documents around the 9th century. By the 13th century, Galician-Portuguese had its own literature and began to split into two languages. However, the debate of whether Galician and Portuguese are nowadays varieties of the same language, much like American English or British English, is still present. In all aspects—phonology, morphology, lexicon and syntax—Portuguese is essentially the result of an organic evolution of Vulgar Latin with some influences from other languages, namely the native Gallaecian and Lusitanian languages spoken prior to the Roman domination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Misumalpan languages</span> Language family of Nicaragua and Honduras

The Misumalpan languages are a small family of languages spoken by indigenous peoples on the east coast of Nicaragua and nearby areas. The name "Misumalpan" was devised by John Alden Mason and is composed of syllables from the names of the family's three members Miskito, Sumo languages and Matagalpan. It was first recognized by Walter Lehmann in 1920. While all the languages of the Matagalpan branch are now extinct, the Miskito and Sumu languages are alive and well: Miskito has almost 200,000 speakers and serves as a second language for speakers of other indigenous languages in the Mosquito Coast. According to Hale, most speakers of Sumu also speak Miskito.

In an alphabetic writing system, a silent letter is a letter that, in a particular word, does not correspond to any sound in the word's pronunciation. In linguistics, a silent letter is often symbolised with a null sign U+2205EMPTY SET. Null is an unpronounced or unwritten segment. The symbol resembles the Scandinavian letter Ø and other symbols.

The Guarani alphabet (achegety) is used to write the Guarani language, spoken mostly in Paraguay and nearby countries. It consists of 33 letters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belizean Creole</span> English-based creole language

Belizean Creole is an English-based creole language spoken by the Belizean Creole people. It is closely related to Miskito Coastal Creole, San Andrés-Providencia Creole, and Jamaican Patois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ojibwe writing systems</span> Writing system

Ojibwe is an indigenous language of North America from the Algonquian language family. Ojibwe is one of the largest Native American languages north of Mexico in terms of number of speakers and is characterized by a series of dialects, some of which differ significantly. The dialects of Ojibwe are spoken in Canada from southwestern Quebec, through Ontario, Manitoba and parts of Saskatchewan, with outlying communities in Alberta and British Columbia, and in the United States from Michigan through Wisconsin and Minnesota, with a number of communities in North Dakota and Montana, as well as migrant groups in Kansas and Oklahoma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayangna people</span> Ethnic group

The Mayangna are a people who live on the eastern coasts of Nicaragua and Honduras, an area commonly known as the Mosquito Coast. Their preferred autonym is Mayangna, as the name "Sumo" is a derogatory name historically used by the Miskito people. Their culture is closer to that of the indigenous peoples of Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia than to the Mesoamerican cultures to the north. The Mayangna inhabited much of the Mosquito Coast in the 16th century. Since then, they have become more marginalized following the emergence of the Miskito as a regional power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portuguese orthography</span> Alphabet and spelling

Portuguese orthography is based on the Latin alphabet and makes use of the acute accent, the circumflex accent, the grave accent, the tilde, and the cedilla to denote stress, vowel height, nasalization, and other sound changes. The diaeresis was abolished by the last Orthography Agreement. Accented letters and digraphs are not counted as separate characters for collation purposes.


The Miskito language, the language of the Miskito people of the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua and Honduras, is a member of the Misumalpan language family and also a strongly Germanic influenced language. Miskito language is widely spoken in Honduras and Nicaragua as Spanish, it is also an official language in the Atlantic region of these countries. With more than 8,000,000 speakers, Miskito has positioned in the second place in both countries after Spanish. Miskito is not only spoken in Central America, but in Europe, USA, Canada and in many other Latin American countries there are Miskitos who made their lives and maintain their culture and language alive. Miskito used to be a royal state language.

The phonology of Sesotho and those of the other Sotho–Tswana languages are radically different from those of "older" or more "stereotypical" Bantu languages. Modern Sesotho in particular has very mixed origins inheriting many words and idioms from non-Sotho–Tswana languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of Nicaragua</span> Languages of the country and its peoples

The official language of Nicaragua is Spanish; however, Nicaraguans on the Caribbean coast speak indigenous languages and also English. The communities located on the Caribbean coast also have access to education in their native languages. Additionally, Nicaragua has four extinct indigenous languages.

Nepali is the national language of Nepal. Besides being spoken as a mother tongue by more than 48% of the population of Nepal, it is also spoken in Bhutan and India. The language is recognized in the Nepali constitution as an official language of Nepal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paya language</span> Chibchan language of Honduras

Pech or Pesh is a Chibchan language spoken in Honduras. It was formerly known as Paya, and continues to be referred to in this manner by several sources, though there are negative connotations associated with this term. It has also been referred to as Seco. There are 300 speakers according to Yasugi (2007). It is spoken near the north-central coast of Honduras, in the Dulce Nombre de Culmí municipality of Olancho Department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ute dialect</span> Colorado River Numic dialect used in the US

Ute is a dialect of the Colorado River Numic language, spoken by the Ute people. Speakers primarily live on three reservations: Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah, Southern Ute in southwestern Colorado, and Ute Mountain in southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah. Ute is part of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Other dialects in this dialect chain are Chemehuevi and Southern Paiute. As of 2010, there were 1,640 speakers combined of all three dialects Colorado River Numic. Ute's parent language, Colorado River Numic, is classified as a threatened language, although there are tribally-sponsored language revitalization programs for the dialect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilocano language</span> Austronesian language spoken by the Ilocano people of the Philippines

Ilocano is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines, primarily by Ilocano people and as a lingua franca by the Igorot people and also by the native settlers of Cagayan Valley. It is the third most-spoken native language in the country.

References

  1. Miskito at Ethnologue (24th ed., 2021) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. Heath, G. R. (3 January 1913). "Notes on Miskuto Grammar and on Other Indian Languages of Eastern Nicaragua". American Anthropologist. 15 (1): 48–62. doi: 10.1525/aa.1913.15.1.02a00060 .
  3. Young, Thomas (1847). Narrative of a residence on the Mosquito Shore: with an account of Truxillo, and the adjacent islands of Bonacca and Roatan; and a vocabulary of the Mosquitian language. pp. 180–181.

Further reading