Sumo People - Mayangna Language

Mayangna Language

The indigenous groups previously known collectively as the 'Sumu' have never spoken a single, unified language. The language spoken around Rosita and Bonanza in the north-eastern part of the RAAN, and today known as 'Mayangna', is in fact two closely related dialects, Twahka and Panamahka, while the people of Karawala in the RAAS, who were also formerly regarded as 'Sumu', speak a closely related sister-language called Ulwa. Both languages belong to the Misumalpan language family. Today, most people speak Mayagna at home but can also speak Miskito in order to interact with the communities around them, and the existence of the Ulwa language is regarded as increasingly threatened by this shift to Miskito.

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