Miskito Coast Creole

Not to be confused with Miskito language.

Miskito Coast Creole
Native to	Nicaragua
Native speakers	~40,000
Language family	English Creole Atlantic Western Miskito Coast 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 English-based creole language spoken in coastal Nicaraguan region of Mosquito Coast on the Caribbean Sea; its approximately 40,000 speakers are spread over the RACCN and RACCS regions of Nicaragua. The region, known before 1986 as the Zelaya department, is today administratively separated into two autonomous regions: North Caribbean Coast (RACCN) and South Caribbean Coast (RACCS). Mosquito is the nickname that is given to the region and earlier residents by early Europeans who visited and settled in the area. The term "Miskito" is now more commonly used to refer to both the people and the language.

Miskito creole is nearly identical to, and hence mutually intelligible with, Belizean Creole, and retains a high degree of intelligibility with all other Central American English creoles. It is also sometimes classified as a dialect of Jamaican Patois creole but this classification has been disputed.

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 African, Amerindian, and European descent in the towns and on the offshore islands of the Miskito Coast. The main concentration of speakers is around Bluefields, and a smaller portion in Puerto Cabezas, Prinzapolka, Bilwi, Pearl Lagoon, the offshore Corn Islands, as well as other smaller communities in both regions. Bluefields is the capital of the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, where a large amount of inhabitants of the city are Spanish-speaking Nicaraguans from the Pacific Coast.

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.

Rama Cay Creole is a variety of the language spoken by the Rama people on Rama Cay, an island in the Bluefields Lagoon.

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.

Geographic distribution of Miskito Coast Creole in 1987

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. 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.

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. In 1787, the British abandoned their claims on the Mosquito coast in a treaty that was put forth. Slaves who ran away or who were abandoned had made their own African communities at Bluefields. Many escaped slaves from other islands had also come over to the area to settle down. 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. That allowed for the African communities to grow and flourish. Their culture became solid after it had gained economic, political and social control over the Mosquito Coast. The people in the communities then began to start calling themselves Creoles.

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 Constitution of Nicaragua granted autonomy to the Zelaya Department as two autonomous regions of the North and the South Caribbean Coast. The autonomous status has allowed for the promotion and the development of the languages of the Caribbean Coast and as of 1992, there was an education in English and Spanish, as well as education in indigenous languages.

By the late 20th century, the coast was becoming more integrated economically and socially. The Creole people have now become a minority in the areas in which they had previously predominated. Many Creoles now speak mostly Spanish as well as creole and consider themselves to be only Nicaraguan. There are many Creoles who have now intermarried with mestizos even though many Creoles still protest on how they lost their political and economic power to the mestizos.

Culture and Identification

The Creoles of Nicaragua are said to be an Afro-Caribbean population that are mixed with Europeans, Africans and Amerindians. Their culture is influenced by West African and British roots along with mestizos and miskito. Some food that is used in their cooking consists of coconut (in its many forms), taro root, yuca, manioc and other elements such as wheat flour and other processed foods. They have their own musical style which can be compared to West Indian calypso.

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.

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. The language is being quickly replaced with Spanish with fewer and fewer people speaking it.

See also

• Belizean Creole
• Jamaican Creole
• Miskito language
• Miskito people
• San Andrés-Providencia Creole

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