- Miskito Coastal Creole
Infobox Language
name=Miskito Coastal Creole
states=Nicaragua
speakers= < 30,000
familycolor=Creole
fam1=Creole language
fam2=English Creole
fam3=Atlantic
fam4=Western
iso2="none"
iso3=bzk
notice=nonoticeMískito Coast Creole or Nicaragua Creole English is a language spoken in
Nicaragua based on English. Its approximately 30,000 speakers are found along theMosquito Coast of theCaribbean Sea . [ [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=bzk Nicaragua Creole English]Ethnologue report] The language is nearly identical to Belizean Creole (Kriol), and similar to allCentral America n Creoles. It does not have the status of an official language.__NOTOC__Geographic distribution
Speakers of Miskito Coast Creole are primarily persons of
Africa n,Amerindian , andEurope an descent in the towns and on the offshore islands of the Mosquito Coast. The main concentration of speakers is aroundBluefields , capital of theRegión Autónoma del Atlántico Sur , although a majority of inhabitants of the city are now Spanish-speaking immigrants.Other communities of Creoles are found in
Waspán on theCoco River nearCape Gracias a Dios , inLaguna de Perlas ,Puerto Cabezas , the offshoreCorn Islands ,Prinzapolka (Puerto Isabel), andSan Juan del Norte (Greytown). Inland, the language is spoken inSiuna , Rosita, and Bonanza on thePrinzapolka River . On the Pacific coast, there are small numbers of speakers in Corinto,Puerto Sandino , and the Nicaraguan capital ofManagua .Rama Cay Creole is a variety of the language spoken by the Rama people onRama Cay , an island in the Bluefields Lagoon.History
African slaves were shipwrecked on the Mosquito Coast as early as 1640 and interaction between them and the local
Miskito population commenced. Larger numbers of Africans fromJamaica enslaved by British owners were settled in the area during the 1700s which led to the development of Miskito Coastal Creole. The Coast was officially under British protection from 1740 to 1787 according to theTreaty of Friendship and Alliance with theMiskito Kingdom and remained under British influence until the late 19th century. In the mid-1800s, more English- or Creole-speaking laborers, primarily from Jamaica, were brought to the Coast as labourers.However, following the 1894 formal annexation of the Miskito Kingdom by Nicaragua, an increasing number of Spanish speakers migrated to the area. The 1987
Constitution of Nicaragua granted autonomy to theZelaya Department as two autonomous regions of the North and South Atlantic Coasts. Autonomous status has allowed for the promotion and development of the languages of the Caribbean Coast and, as of|1992|lc=on, there was education in English and Spanish, as well as education in Indigenous languages.Fact|date=November 2007Notes
References
*Ken Decker and Andy Keener. " [http://www.sil.org/silesr/2001/004/SILESR2001-004.pdf 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.
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=bzk Nicaragua Creole English]Ethnologue reportee also
*
Belizean Creole
*Jamaican Creole
*Miskito language
*Miskito
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