Miskito Coast Creole
Miskito Coast Creole | |
---|---|
Native to | Nicaragua |
Native speakers | ~40,000[1] |
English Creole
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | bzk |
Glottolog | nica1252 |
ELP | Nicaragua Creole English |
Linguasphere | 52-ABB-af |
Mískito Coast Creole or Nicaraguan Creole English is an
Miskito creole is nearly identical to, and hence
It does not have the status of an official language in Nicaragua, but it is a recognized language in the autonomous regions where it is spoken.
Geographic distribution
Speakers of Miskito Coast Creole are primarily persons of
Most of the creole speakers are located along the banks of the large rivers and lagoons that surround the area. Inland, the language is spoken in the "mining triangle" which compromises Siuna, Bonanza and Rosita on the Prinzapolka River. On the Pacific coast, there are small numbers of speakers in Corinto, Puerto Sandino, and the Nicaraguan capital of Managua. A smaller portion of the population stays in large towns along the northern Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, as well as other neighboring Central American countries.[4]
The environment is that of a tropical rainforest with an average rainfall of 448 centimeters and temperatures that range 26.4 °C ( 79 °F ) and up.[4]
Location | Number of speakers |
---|---|
Bluefields | 11,258 |
Corn Islands | 3,030 |
Pearl Lagoon | 1,285 |
Bilwi | 1,733 |
Other locations | 8,417 |
Total | 25,723 |
History
African slaves were shipwrecked on the Mosquito Coast as early as 1640, which started the interaction between them and the local Miskito population.
17th to 19th centuries
The modern-day Creoles' ancestors came as escapees from shipwrecked slave ships to the Nicaraguan Caribbean coast from Africa between the 17th and the late 18th centuries. The escapees went to the jungles and soon formed relations with the local Indigenous tribes and intermarried.[6] The Coast was officially under British protection from 1740 to 1787 according to the Treaty of Friendship and Alliance with the Miskito Kingdom and remained under British influence until the late 19th century.[citation needed]
While they were here, the African population renewed and transformed ita culture and traits by taking elements of its African culture and mixing it with European culture along with the local Indian tribes which created a new culture.[4] In 1787, the British abandoned their claims on the Mosquito coast in a treaty that was put forth.[6] Slaves who ran away or who were abandoned had made their own African communities at Bluefields.[6] Many escaped slaves from other islands had also come over to the area to settle down.[6] Great Britain signed the Treaty of Managua which gave a portion of an area to the natives there and allowed it to be self-governed.[6] That allowed for the African communities to grow and flourish.[6] Their culture became solid after it had gained economic, political and social control over the Mosquito Coast.[4] The people in the communities then began to start calling themselves Creoles.[6]
In the mid-19th century, more English- or Creole-speaking laborers, primarily from Jamaica, were brought to the Coast as laborers. However, following the 1894 formal annexation of the Miskito Kingdom by Nicaragua, an increasing number of Spanish-speakers migrated to the area.
20th and 21st centuries
The 1987
By the late 20th century, the coast was becoming more integrated economically and socially.
Culture and Identification
The
Very little literature has been produced in Nicaraguan Creole. The most regarded author has been June Beer, who was a poet, and artist. As an advocate for Nicaraguan Creole, In 2008 she was honored with an annual literary award bearing her name, the June Beer Literary Prize in Mother Tongues (Premio Literario Internacional en Lenguas Maternas “June Beer”), which is awarded to authors who produce works in indigenous or Creole languages.[1]
Language details
The Nicaraguan Creole English language is spoken as a primary first language by only 35,000 to 50,000 Creoles, Nicaraguan Garifuna, and some Miskitos.[8] The language is being quickly replaced with Spanish with fewer and fewer people speaking it.[8]
See also
- Belizean Creole
- Jamaican Creole
- Miskito language
- Miskito people
- San Andrés-Providencia Creole
References
- ^ a b https://www.laprensani.com/2005/02/06/editorial/953634-el-ingls-criollo-del-caribe-nica
- ^ a b "Orientation - Creoles of Nicaragua". www.everyculture.com. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
- ^ http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/4025
- ^ a b c d e "Nicaragua Travel: Your Nicaraguan Guide for Things to Do, Hotels, Dining, Shopping, Events & more | By Nicaragua Channel". www.nicaragua.com. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
- ^ Chalres R. Hale and Edmund T. Gordon. 1987. "Costeno Demography: Historical and Contemporary Demography of Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast: An Historical Overview." In CIDCA 1987. Cited in Ken Decker and Andy Keener. "A Report on the English-Lexifier Creole of Nicaragua, also known as Miskito Coast Creole, with special reference to Bluefields and the Corn Islands." Summer Institute of Linguistics. February 1998.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Creoles of Nicaragua - Dictionary definition of Creoles of Nicaragua | Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
- ^ a b c "Creole Languages | About World Languages". aboutworldlanguages.com. Retrieved 2017-03-10.
- ^ a b "Did you know Nicaragua Creole English is vulnerable?". Endangered Languages. Retrieved 2017-03-09.
Bibliography
- Ken Decker and Andy Keener. "A Report on the English-Lexifier Creole of Nicaragua, also known as Miskito Coast Creole, with special reference to Bluefields and the Corn Islands." Summer Institute of Linguistics. February 1998.
Further reading
- Creole Languages . (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2017, from http://aboutworldlanguages.com/creole-languages
- Creoles of Nicaragua. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2017, from http://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/creoles-nicaragua
- Explore Nicaragua Languages. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2017, from http://www.nicaragua.com/languages/
- Creoles of Nicaragua - Orientation. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2017, from http://www.everyculture.com/Middle-America-Caribbean/Creoles-of-Nicaragua-Orientation.html
- Mühlhäusler, P. (2015). Zeitschrift Für Dialektologie Und Linguistik, 82(1), 115–118. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/43821567
- Did you know Nicaragua Creole English is vulnerable? (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2017, from http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/4025