The two indian faces of Nicaragua and Central America

Abstract

Starting from a summary of the main discoveries and conclusions of the tradition of investigations about the cultures and languages of Central America, this paper argues that both, the implantation of the autochthonous languages and the human and material resources limitations in each of the Central American nations, render unavoidable the creation of a regional program of linguistic studies. The article, which is the written version of a conference delivered at the first congress of the Asociación Centroamericana de lingüística (ACALING), enumerates also some of most important topics of research for this recently created organization.