List of endangered languages in Central America

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An endangered language is a language that it is at risk of falling out of use, generally because it has few surviving speakers. If it loses all of its native speakers, it becomes an extinct language. UNESCO defines four levels of language endangerment between "safe" (not endangered) and "extinct":[1]

Central America (Spanish: Centroamérica or América Central) is a central geographic region of the Americas. It is variably defined either as the southern portion of North America, which connects with South America on the southeast, or as a region of the American continent in its own right.[2][3]

Costa Rica

Costa Rica
Language Ethnonym Speakers Source
Boruca language5 women (1986 SIL)30 to 35 nonfluent speakers 1,000 (1991).

El Salvador

El Salvador
Language Ethnonym Speakers Source
Pipil language20 (1987) 196,576 (1987)

Guatemala

Guatemala
Language Ethnonym Speakers Source
Itza' language12 (1986 SIL) 1,800 (2001).

Honduras

Honduras
Language Ethnonym Speakers Source
Lenca languageOnly a few speakers in Honduras

Nicaragua

Nicaragua
Language Ethnonym Speakers Source
Rama language24 (1989 J Holm) 900 (2000 C Grinevald).

Panama

Panama
Language Ethnonym Speakers Source
San Miguel Creole French3 (1999 SIL).

References

  1. Moseley, Christopher, ed. (2010). Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger. Memory of Peoples (3rd ed.). Paris: UNESCO Publishing. ISBN 978-92-3-104096-2. Retrieved 2015-04-11.
  2. Central America, MSN Encarta. Accessed on line January 10, 2008. Archived 2009-10-31.
  3. "Central America", vol. 3, Micropædia, The New Encyclopædia Britannica, Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1990, 15th ed. ISBN 0-85229-511-1.
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