Mangue language

Mangue
Chorotega
Mánekeme
Native toNicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador
EthnicityMangue, Chorotega, Monimbo
Extinctearly 20th century
Dialects
  • Dirian
  • Nagrandan
  • Choluteca
  • Orotiña
Language codes
ISO 639-3mom
Glottologmoni1237
  Mangue

Mangue, also known as Chorotega, is an extinct Oto-Manguean language ancestral to Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica. The dialects were known as: Mangue proper in western Nicaragua, which was further subdivided into Dirian and Nagrandan; Choluteca in the region of Honduras' Bay of Fonseca; and Orotiña in Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless p t k
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ
Affricate (ts) (tʃ)
Fricative s h
Nasal m n ɲ
Flap ɾ
Glide w l j

/t, k/ can have allophones [ts, tʃ].

Stop and fricative sounds /p, t, k, s/ can turn voiced [b, d, ɡ, z] after nasal sounds.

Vowels

Three vowels are noted /a, i, u/. Suprasegmentals, almost certainly tone given that all extant Oto-Manguean languages are tonal, distinguished certain minimal pairs, but the number of distinct tones is unknown. Allophones are also noted.

Sound Allophone
/i/ [i], [ɪ], [e]
/a/ [a], [æ], [ɛ]
/u/ [u], [o], [ʊ]

Grammar

This section is based on Rodriguez (2015).

Typologically, Mangue belonged to the Mesoamerican language area as it possessed certain characteristic features such as a vigesimal numeral system. It was dissimilar from neighboring Chibchan and Misumalpan languages. Three main grammatical categories were distinguished: nouns, verbs and particles. Instead of adjectives properly speaking, Mangue had stative verbs.

Verbs

Verbs took prefixes marking tense/aspect/mood, and suffixes marking person. Uninflected verbs were realis and can correspond to either past or present tense.

Verbal prefixes:

Nouns

Inalienable nouns took one of three prefixes:

Number was distinguished by apophony, where a medial /u/ indicated singular, and /i/ plural: nyuri = flower; niri = flowers ngura = foot; ngira = feet nasunyamo = lady; nasinyamo = ladies

Personal suffixes

These suffixes indicate possession on nouns, and subject on verbs.

Syntax

Mangue is a predominantly right-branching or head-initial language. Objects and subjects both appear after the verb, but there is no attested sentence that has both an explicit subject and object. Attributive adjectives follow their noun heads, and possessors follow possessed.

Phrases

Brinton gives a list of Mangue words and phrases, some of which are:

The verb "to be,"

I am, cejo.
Thou art, simuh.
He is, neje sumu.
We are, cis mi muh.

Pronouns.

saho.
My, amba, mba.
He, neje.
She, neja.

Phrases.

Koi murio, It is already dawn.
Koi yujmi, It is already night.
Koi prijpi, It is already growing dark.
Susupusca? How are you?
Ko' mi muya' i ku ? And you, how are you ?
Camo cujmi umyaique, Nasi pujimo camo? There is nothing new; and you, how are you ?
Gusapo, Take a seat
Pami nyumuta, The food is good
Ropia, Come here
Uño I See I
Mis upa'? Where are you going?
Taspo, Yes.
Tapame, Be good.

Brinton also compares the color terms of Mangue and Chiapanec:

Mangue. Chiapanec.
Black, nanzome. dujamä.
White, nandirime. dilimä.
Yellow, nandiume. nandikumä.
Blue or Green nandipame. ndipamä.
Red, arimbome. nduimä.

And a number of Nicaraguan and Costa Rican placenames that come from the Mangue language:

Nindiria (from ninda - shore, diri, hill)
Nakutiri (from naku - fire, diri, hill)
Monimbe (ntimbu - water, rain)
Nandasinmo (nanda - brook)
Mombonasi (nasi - woman)
Masaya
Managua
Namotiva
Norome
Diriamba
Nicoya
Oretina

Notes

  1. 1 2 Daniel G. Brinton. 1886. Notes on the Mangue; An Extinct Dialect Formerly Spoken in Nicaragua Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 23, No. 122 (Apr., 1886), pp. 238-257
  2. ↑ Newson, Linda A. (1987). Indian survival in colonial Nicaragua (1st ed.). Norman [OK]: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 28. ISBN 0806120088.
  3. ↑ Quirós Rodríguez, Juan Santiago (2002). Diccionario español-chorotega, chorotega-español. San José: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  4. ↑ Rodríguez, Juan (30 August 2015). "El sistema vocálico de la lengua chorotega o mangue". Revista de Filología y Lingüística de la Universidad de Costa Rica. 14: 129–132. doi:10.15517/rfl.v14i2.18975. Retrieved 2 September 2026.
  5. ↑ Krohn, Haakon S. (2022). Fonología del Mangue (Chorotega). Káñina, Vol 46 (3). pp. 7–29.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ↑ Rodríguez, Juan (30 August 2015). "Observaciones sobre la tipología de la lengua chorotega o mangue". Revista de Filología y Lingüística de la Universidad de Costa Rica. 11 (2): 93–97. doi:10.15517/rfl.v11i2.16696. Retrieved 2 September 2026.

References