Miskito (language)
Miskito ( Miskitu in the Miskito language ) is listed on the east coast of Nicaragua and Honduras in several slightly different dialects of the people of the Miskito spoken Native language . She belongs with some other indigenous-Central American languages misumalpan languages - language family .
The following dialect variants of Miskito are known: Miskito from Honduras or Mam (not to be confused with Mam from the Maya language family ), Tawira, Baymuna, Wangki and Kabu.
background
With 180,000 people, Miskito is the most widely spoken indigenous language in Nicaragua and Honduras. Miskito is written in the Latin script. Miskaya means fishing in Miskito, Miskitu means fisherman ; the Miskitos themselves understand that they call themselves fishermen.
In contrast to other Indian languages in the region, the language is very easy to learn. There is no plural in nouns , nor in verbs . As in all indigenous languages of America, nouns have no genders , the vocabulary has significantly fewer vocabulary than European languages. All words are always stressed on the first syllable, this also applies to English and Spanish loanwords , which are also stressed on the first syllable . There are only three vowels (a, i, u), the consonants are all very easy to pronounce. Miskito not only contains many European loanwords, but, unlike many other Indian languages, has also adapted very far to European ways of thinking . Miskito is sometimes spoken as a second or lingua franca.
Web links
- Miskito. In: M. Paul Lewis, Gary F. Simons, Charles D. Fennig (Eds.): Ethnologue. Languages of the World. 19th edition. Online version. SIL International, Dallas TX 2016.
Individual evidence
- ^ Ethnologue classification , accessed December 25, 2014
- ↑ www15.gencat.net ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed April 22, 2010
