Also Known As:
Garifuna, Garfuna, Black Carib, Caribe, Central American Carib, "Moreno"
Dialects & Varieties
- Eastern Garifuna
- Western Garifuna. Eastern Garifuna (Honduras and Nicaragua)
- Western Garifuna (Guatemala and Belize).
Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th Edition (2009)
Lewis, M. Paul (ed.). 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16 edn. http://www.ethnologue.com/home.asp. (15 February, 2011.)
Vulnerable
40 percent certain, based on the evidence available
195,800
Native Speakers Worldwide
Domains of Use
Domain Of Use 1
Used in most domains except for official ones such as government, mass media, education etc.
1
Speakers
Native or fluent speakers:
No results found.
Second-language speakers and learners
No results found.
Semi-speakers or rememberers
No results found.
Children:
No results found.
Young adults
No results found.
Older adults
No results found.
Elders
No results found.
Ethnic or community population
No results found.
Year information was gathered
No results found.
Comments on speakers
100 monolinguals. Radio programs. Dictionary. Grammar. Bible: 2002.
Location and Context
Countries
Belize; USA; Nicaragua; Guatemala; Honduras; El Salvador
Location Description
Mainly north coast between Masca, Cortés Department and Plaplaya; Gracias a Dios Department. 37 villages in Honduras, 46 elsewhere in Central America (plus cities La Ceiba, San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa, and Puerto Cortés). Also in Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, United States (New York City; New Orleans).
Government Support
No results found.
Institutional Support
No results found.
Speakers' Attitude
Mostly positive
Other Languages Used By The Community
Spanish; English
Number of Other Language Speakers:
195,700
Domains of Other Languages:
None
Writing Systems
Standard orthography:
No results found.
Writing system:
Latin script
Other writing systems used:
No results text.
Comments on writing systems:
Literacy rate in L1: 1%%-5%%. Literacy rate in L2: 5%%-15%%.
Recent Resources
Website explaining Garifuna language and history, providing numerous resources on the language.
Alex Kwabena Colon introduces himself and talks about his efforts for the preservation of the Garifu
A collection of videos published by the Endangered Language Alliance on the Garifuna language.