Language
| Languages of Nicaragua | |
| Language | Speakers |
|---|---|
| Arabic | 400 |
| Chinese | 7,000 |
| English | 20,334 |
| Garífuna | 1,500 |
| Miskito | 154,400 |
| Sign language | 3,000 |
| Spanish | 4,347,000 |
| Sumo | 6,700 |
| Rama | 24 |
| Creole English | 30,000 |
| Source: Ethnologue | |
The official language of Nicaragua is Spanish, or Nicañol as Nicaraguan Spanish is sometimes referred to, and is spoken by the country's population. In Nicaragua the Voseo form is common, just as in other countries in Central and South America like Honduras, Argentina, and Uruguay. Spanish has many different dialects spoken throughout Latin America, Central American Spanish is the dialect spoken in Nicaragua.
- Phonology
Some other characteristics of Nicaraguan phonology include:
- /s/ at the end of a syllable or before a consonant is pronounced like .
- j (/x/), is aspirated; it is soft as the /h/ in English (e.g.: Yahoo).
- Intervocalic /b/, /d/, and /g/ show no sign of reduction, and are much more pronounced than in most dialects.
- In some regions the double /l/ is pronounced with a ( "Shhh") sound, Argentina has a similar accent.
- There is no confusion between /l/ and /r/, as in the Caribbean.
- /s/, /z/ and in some cases /c/ (as in cerrar) are pronounced as
- /m/ at the end of a word tends to be pronounced as
Nicaraguans on the Caribbean coast speak their indigenous languages and also English. The indigenous peoples of the east who use their original language tend to also speak Spanish and/or English, the main languages being Miskito language, Sumo language, and Rama language. Creole languages are also present in the Caribbean coast, Nicaragua Creole English has 30,000 speakers.
Nicaragua has many minority groups. Many ethnic groups in Nicaragua, such as the Chinese Nicaraguans and Palestinian Nicaraguans, have maintained their ancestral languages while also speaking Spanish and/or English. Minority languages include Chinese, Arabic, German, Italian among others. Nicaragua also has a total of 3 extinct languages.
Nicaraguan Sign Language is also of particular interest to linguists.
Read more about this topic: Demographics Of Nicaragua
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“The etymologist finds the deadest word to have been once a brilliant picture. Language is fossil poetry. As the limestone of the continent consists of infinite masses of the shells of animalcules, so language is made up of images or tropes, which now, in their secondary use, have long ceased to remind us of their poetic origin.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“To try to write love is to confront the muck of language: that region of hysteria where language is both too much and too little, excessive ... and impoverished.”
—Roland Barthes (1915–1980)
“One can say of language that it is potentially the only human home, the only dwelling place that cannot be hostile to man.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)