Sumo languages

Sumo (also known as Sumu) is the collective name for a group of Misumalpan languages spoken in Nicaragua and Honduras. Hale & Salamanca (2001) classify the Sumu languages into a northern Mayangna, composed of the Tawahka and Panamahka dialects, and southern Ulwa. Sumu specialist Ken Hale considered the differences between Ulwa and Mayangna in both vocabulary and morphology to be so considerable that he prefers to speak of Ulwa as a language distinct from the northern Sumu varieties.

Sumo
Sumu
Native toNicaragua, Honduras
RegionHuaspuc River and its tributaries
EthnicitySumo people
Native speakers
9,000 (1997–2009)[1]
Misumalpan
  • Sumalpan
    • Sumo
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
yan – Mayangna
ulw – Ulwa
Glottologsumu1234
ELPSumo[2]

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
plain lateral
Nasal voiceless m̥ n̥ ŋ̊
voiced m n ŋ
Stop voiceless p t k
voiced b d
Fricative s h
Approximant voiced w l j
voiceless l̥
Trill voiceless r̥
voiced r

Vowels
Front Back
short long short long
Close i iː u uː
Open a aː

Sources
  • Hale, Ken, and Danilo Salamanca (2001) "Theoretical and Universal Implications of Certain Verbal Entries in Dictionaries of the Misumalpan Languages", in Frawley, Hill & Munro eds. Making Dictionaries: Preserving indigenous Languages of the Americas. University of California Press.
  • Norwood, Susan (1997). Gramática de la lengua sumu. Managua: CIDCA.

References
  1. Mayangna at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Ulwa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Endangered Languages Project data for Sumo.


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