Misumalpan languages

Misumalpa is a language family in America. It occurs mainly in Central America and consists of four distinct languages. Their range extends over El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. The speaker is the richest language spoken predominantly Miskito in Nicaragua with about 140,000 speakers. A possible relationship with the Chibcha language is not excluded, but not yet proven.

Breakdown

• Miskito - about 200,000 speakers, mainly in the Región Autónoma del Atlántico Norte Nicaragua, but also some in Honduras.
• Sumalpan Sumo - about 7,000 speakers along the Huaspuc River and its tributaries, mostly in Nicaragua but also in Honduras. Many former speaker use today Miskito. We can distinguish the following varieties: Mayangna Tawahka
• Panamahka
• Tuahka

• Cacaopera - extinct; formerly in use in the department of Morazán in El Salvador
• Matagalpa - extinct; formerly widespread in the central highlands of Nicaragua and in the department of El Paraíso in Honduras.

History

From the late 16th century the rise of the Miskito began the dominant language on the Mosquito Coast. Cause was an alliance that the Miskito joined with the British Empire. In the northeastern Nicaragua displaced until today sumo. On the other hand it loses in southeastern Nicaragua against the based on the English Creole increasingly important. Sumo is available in all areas where it is still spoken, endangered. However, it is assumed that Sumo was the predominant language in the region before the rise of the Miskito. The Matagalpan languages ​​have long been extinct and poorly documented.

All Misumalpa languages ​​have the same phonology with the exception of phonotactics. The consonants are P, B, T, D, k, s, h, w, y, and voiced and stimmhaftige versions of m, n, ng, l and r; The vowels are long and short versions of a, i, and u