El sumu

Susan Norwood

The sumu

Authors

Susan Norwood

Centro de Investigación y Documentación de la Costa Atlántica

Keywords:

Atlantic Coast, Ethnic group, Indigenous language, Nicaragua

Abstract

Sumu is the mother tongue of some 9,000 inhabitants of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua and Honduras. It is provisionally classified as a member of the Misumalpa group (along with Miskito and Matagalpa), which is closely related to the languages of the Chibcha family of Central and South America. These relationships cannot be considered scientifically proven before a rigorous comparison of all related languages is made; however, the structural similarities between Sumu and Miskito (and Matagalpa, although we know little of it) are remarkable.