User:Chrismevs/Sumo languages

The Sumo languages are two threatened languages spoken in Nicaragua and Honduras, named Mayangna and Ulwa. There are approximated 10,000 native speakers. Ethnologue cited Sumo as a single language in 2009, until separating the two languages in 2013. There are still debates over this decision. In Honduras, there are 700 speakers out of a population of 800-1000. In Nicaragua, there are 6,700. Speakers were previously called "Sumu", but are now referred to as Mayangna. Traditional religions involved worship of the Sun and Moon. Major religions today include Protestantism and Catholicism The indigenous population live in an isolated mountainous region. Pre-contact population was over 30,000, but decreased to 5000-6000 after war. Mayangna people are still being pressured by mining companies, logging companies, war with the neighboring Miskitu, and missionaries. This pressure has contributed to loss of the Mayangna language. Land disputes and creation of new maps has further caused a decrease in Mayangna ability to survive.

Language
Sumo and Miskito make up the Misumalpan language family. Miskito is the most distant member of Misumalpan. It is a small family described as Macro-Chibcha. Mayangna is the northern branch of the Sumo family, and Ulwa is the southern branch. Ulwa is described as Southern Sumu. Sumo together with Matagalpan make up Sumalpan. Matagalpan has no active speakers. Mayangna is broken down into 4 dialects: Panamakha, Tawahka, Tuahka, and Yusku. It is spoken in the Autonomous Region of the North Atlantic, along the Waspuk River, in Bambana, Tungi, Santo Tomas de Umbra, and the upper Wawa. The Panamahka dialect is spoken along the Wanki River. The Tuahka dialect is spoken in the Wasakin area. Ulwa is spoken in the Autonomous Region of the South Atlantic, and Karawala Region. In Nicaragua, it is spoken along the Prinzapolka River in the south and northwards into Honduras. In Honduras, it is spoken by the Patuca River, Gracias a Dios, and Olancho departments.

One study recorded 9756 self-reported Mayangna. 1080 of these speakers lived in urban areas. 8676 lived in rural areas. In this study it was unclear if the measure identified speakers or members of the Mayangna community. Another estimate found as many as 25,050 speakers. 16,283 of speakers used the Panamahka dialect. 8767 used the Tuahka dialect. A study specifying a record of speakers found only 6,700.

Sumo languages fall into the category of Threatened. It is 20% certain that the language will go extinct.

Linguistic resources to organize space differ between languages. These resources are called Frames of Reference (FoR). They consist of the comparison of figure, ground, and anchor. These components are described as: "the ‘figure’ is de- fined as a ‘‘moving or conceptually movable entity whose site, path, or orientation is conceived as a variable by the particular value of which is the relevant issue’’ (Talmy, 2000, p. 312). ‘Ground’ is used here as a ‘‘reference entity, one that has a stationary setting relative to a frame, with respect to which, the figure’s site, path, or orientation is characterized’’ (Talmy, 2000, p. 312). The anchor is the origin of the search domain, and from which the vector, moving from ground to figure, is calculated (Danziger, 2010)." Examples of FoR being used include "the ball is to the right of the chair", "the ball is at the back of the chair", "the ball is north of the chair", and "the ball is toward the courthouse from the chair." Mayangna has similar FoR in relational nouns such as "under" or "on top of". More commonly used are "stative verbs", although these are not actually verbs despite appearing as such. Stative verbs describe dispositional-like properties of an object. Examples include hanging, lying flat, or standing up.

Efforts to Save Mayangna Language
Spanish is the official language of Nicaragua. The branch of the Nicaraguan government called the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport supports the teaching of Mayangna culture and language through a curriculum acknowledging the need for this information to be taught. There are better ways to ensure the Mayangna language is not lost, particularly by focusing on preparation of textbooks and school materials. One main objective of changing education strategies is to teach the difference between mother tongue, second language, and foreign language.

The threat to the Sumo languages is dependent on six characteristics: the "high levels of linguistic and dialectical diversity, lack of social, political, and or economic support, lack of infrastructure to support language planning projects, programs, and activities, community perception of documentation and/or revitalization projects and engagement in them, response to and acceptance of ethical behavior prescribed by the field of linguistics, geographic distance and terrain and geopolitical borders." Language revitalization is dependent on the acknowledgement of linguistic and cultural diversity. Efforts to document, protect, and revitalize the Mayangna language has taken the shape of recording and creating grammars, vocabularies and dictionaries, and collections of cultural objects. Large scale political efforts have also been deployed, such as recognition of Mayangna as an official national language and bilingual classrooms where Mayangna history is also taught. Campaigns look to the differences in communities ability to retain language as a guide to further revitalization efforts. The Panamahka and Tuahka share a similar cultural and political setting, but Tuahka is being lost while Panamahka has been able to resist well.

Efforts focus on combating language shift. Language shift occurs in the Mayangna population as speakers being to speak Miskito and Spanish. The shift to Miskito was more often seen in rural populations, where the shift to Spanish was seen in urban areas. This is possible from the lessened presence of indigenous culture and people in urban areas. The shift has been attributed to cultural changes based on a hierarchy of political, social, and cultural power. A language hierarchy has been developed and is a main component to language shift as speakers begin to use Miskito, despite retaining a Mayangna identity. This hierarchy has lead to first an exclusion of the language from institutions and communities, into the abandonment. One field researcher found that a person who identified as Mayangna was seen speaking Miskito almost as a "bad habit." The dominance of the Miskito language in social relations is observed as a result of being viewed differently within the community for speaking Mayangna.

Language shift is central to the discussion of identity and the survival of language and culture. It is possible that the language shift from Mayangna to Miskito occurred much earlier than contact with international companies and conflict with the Miskito. There is evidence that earlier Mayangna groups had adopted the Miskito language then began to identify as Miskito. It is most evident in Mayangna groups along the Bambana river. It is especially affecting the Tuahka dialect. Efforts to combat language shift are focused on counteracting the influence of the language hierarchy. These efforts are centered in education, the legal system, politics, research, resources and access to resources, literacy, standardization, community engagement, and ideologies. A value hierarchy appeared with the language hierarchy, and efforts are being made to change this. There is no evidence that any strategies have been effective.

Conflict
The Mayangna and Miskitu are neighboring communities with a history of conflict and dislike. Miskitu gained region dominance after being armed by the British. The Mayangna often define themselves through their opposition with the Miskito. There is a major, disputed opinion that the source of many of these negative feelings are that the Miskitu deceived the Mayangna into entering a war that proved disastrous. Others believe that Mayangna participation in the war and its consequences were a result of Mayangna leadership. Documentation of the war is only accessible through collective memory and oral history.

300 Mayangna joined the war, while 3,000 fled to refugee camps. Refugee camps were targeted by recruitment efforts "as accomplished through a mixture of psychological pressure, threats of violence toward potential recruits and their families (interview with Econayo Taylor, 2011) and Miskitu promises that 50,000 US marines would soon invade the country (interview with Rolando Davis, 2011), that the war would be over any day and that victory was guaranteed (interview with Erancio Zeledo ́n, 2011)." The Sandinista Revolution was initially beneficial to the Mayangna with the addition of clinics, rebuilt roads, and literacy that eventually created the Mayangna written language. The Revolution's goal was integration. The Mayangna faced pressure to assimilate, especially with further conflict between individual tribes and epidemics.

Missionaries and the church were a major factor in the proximity and further conflict between the two nations. The Church also helped Mayangna communities. Its efforts pushed the Mayangna towards sovereignty and improvement. Many Mayangna argued that a town was not complete without a church. The Mayangna were historically isolated in a mountainous region. Invasion, selling land, and economic enterprises after contact caused conflict and threatened Mayangna livelihood. Missionary presence encouraged Mayangna people to settle nearer to Miskito territory. Education and religion was now only taught in Miskito. Mayangna people began marrying Miskito people and abandoning the language. War threatened Mayanga culture further. During the war, literacy campaign workers were targeted. The deception came when Mayangna, who were now unable to escape Miskito influence, were pressured into joining the war. The Miskitu treated Mayangna soldiers as "expendable". After the war, Miskitu leaders ignored the Mayangna population as they were a minority. Lingering feelings of exclusion became part of institutions through political powers.

Mayangna eventually declared itself a separate nation with its own national identity. There is proof that Mayangna territory in Nicaragua was much greater than credited because of many place names are in Mayangna. Now, it is centered in the Northeast region of Nicaragua. It is suspected that the territory was much larger before contact. The Mayangna Nation is made up of six regions.

Conflict with colonists has also defined Mayangna and many other indigenous peoples history. In one study utilizing satellite imagery, deforestation levels of the Mayangna and Miskito were compared with colonist levels. Indigenous farmers were found to deforest at a significantly less rate than colonists. Indigenous borders were found to better protect against deforestation than the government. Indigenous community-property institutions, defense, and grassroots organizations protected land from colonists. Deforestation has caused major disturbances in the forests, including many local extinctions. Continued survival of indigenous communities is reliant upon lessen of colonists' presence, government-funded research, and economic development.

Social Relations
A study found that Mayangna communities participate in food sharing, providing evidence for structures of social relations and the evolutionary advantages behind them. The study identified reciprocal food sharing, kin selection, tolerated scrounging, and costly signaling. It found that determining factors in amount of food shared is based on interhousehold distance, kinship, and reciprocity.

The standard observation for ways that food is shared is from a household with relatively high amounts of food to one with less food that are kin. The amount shared from mother to child is especially high and qualitatively different. Differences in need between households is the deciding factor, not reciprocity.

Evolutionary advantages show that it is advantageous for the survival of genes. Fitness plays an influence on selection for marriage, with those offering better fitness more often selected. Reciprocal altruism protects against resource shortages. Reciprocation comes in the form of replacing food, or offering other goods and services. Tolerated scrounging is beneficial in determining whether one with more food should invest the energy to defend oneself against a motivated hungry person. Reciprocity is not expected in this case. Costly signaling is the public handing out of food. It is seen as a way to signal to community members of one's good attributes. Often times large game is distributed to a large audience.

Kin selection was found to be mainly influenced by the prospective husband's wealth and hunting ability. The social network of the spouse was not important. Based on parental investment theory, this occurs because of the perceived assurance to support the wife and her children. The family of the wife were also invested in these abilities to provide. Wealth is measured by cows owned, rifle ownership, ownership of a house with a separate kitchen, and amount of building materials. Wealth was favored because of the ability to provide loans, materials, and medicine, and ownership of small businesses. Researchers found the competence rating of chosen spouses to be between .61 and .93.

Male presence versus absence is another major area of study. A husbands investment in a parental role and relationship is a factor that is the basis of marriage selection. A husband's direct care and wealth were found to be determining factors in success in marriage. A husband's investment was seen as a costly signal.