Lencan languages

E602965

The Lencan languages are an extinct or nearly extinct small family of indigenous languages once spoken in parts of Honduras and El Salvador in Central America.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Lencan languages canonical 3

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (32)

Predicate Object
instanceOf language family
alternativeName Lencan
associatedPeople Lenca
linked to: Lenca people
classificationStatus unclassified beyond Lencan family
continent North America
country El Salvador
Honduras
culturalRole traditional language of the Lenca people
currentUse possibly a few semi-speakers or rememberers
documentationStatus poorly documented
era colonial era
modern era (remnant use)
pre-Columbian era
ethnicity Lenca people
extinctionCause language shift to Spanish
familySize small language family
geneticClassification language isolate family (no proven relatives)
geographicDistribution eastern El Salvador
southwestern Honduras
linked to: western Honduras
hasLanguage Honduran Lenca
linked to: Lenca language

Salvadoran Lenca
languageBranch Chilanga Lenca
linked to: Chilanga

Honduran Lenca
languageContact Spanish language
other Mesoamerican languages
languageShiftTo Spanish
linguisticTypology Mesoamerican indigenous languages
region Central America
spokenBy indigenous peoples of El Salvador
indigenous peoples of Honduras
status extinct or nearly extinct
writingSystem primarily oral tradition

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.