The lenca language, factors that explain its dying state

Abstract

The Lenca language in Honduras became extinct at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. The Lenca language reached its current moribund state due to factors that put the population in physical danger; and factors that modified the culture. This phenomenon corresponds to a consequence of several historical events that influenced the population and culture. If all the people who speak a language die, then the language also dies. So, the factors that put the Lenca population at physical risk were a dramatic demographic decline since the conquest, diseases imported by foreigners, military conflicts between the conquerors and indigenous people, the exclusion of indigenous lands, forced migrations, and slavery. People may continue to live even in their traditional territory, but their language may decline and disappear, to be replaced by another language. So, the factors that endangered the culture were: demographic submersion, which allowed the centralization of power in a few, this led the population to begin using the language of power and putting aside their own; and, finally, cultural assimilation.