Miskito, sumo and tungla: linguistic variation and ethnic identity
Keywords:
Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, History, Identity, Indigenous population, LanguageAbstract
This article is an effort to expose a set of assumptions that have plagued historical accounts of the Mosquitia. These assumptions concern the various peoples who during the 19th century came to be known as Sumo and their relations with the Miskitos. The assumption that the disappearance of some of these Sumo groups and the decline of others was due exclusively to the Miskito incursions of the eighteenth century must be questioned. In this paper, the author proposes a modified version of Sumo history. He believes that many Sumo communities disappeared in the 19th and 20th centuries due to language change, as their members became Miskito or Spanish speakers, and consequently, their communities became Miskito or mestizo. This process, according to the author, continues into the 19th century.
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