List of extinct languages in Central America and the Caribbean
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This is a list of extinct languages of Central America and the Caribbean, languages which have undergone
language death In linguistics, language death occurs when a language loses its last native speaker. By extension, language extinction is when the language is no longer known, including by second-language speakers. Other similar terms include linguicide, the de ...
, have no
native speakers A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...
, and no spoken descendants. There are 14 languages listed, 7 lost in Central America and 7 lost in the Caribbean.


Central America


Costa Rica

* Chorotega


El Salvador

*
Cacaopera Cacaopera is a municipality in the Morazán department of El Salvador. According to UNESCO: The community of Cacaopera is the sole surviving representative of an otherwise vanished ethnic group, variously referred to as Ulua, Matagalpa, or C ...


Guatemala

* Chicomuceltec


Honduras

*
Lenca The Lenca or Lepawiran "people of the jaguar" are from present day southwest Honduras and eastern El Salvador in Central America. They once spoke many Dialects such as Chilanga, Putun, Kotik etc. Although there were different dialects, they un ...


Nicaragua

*
Matagalpa Matagalpa () is a city in Nicaragua which is the capital of the department of Matagalpa. The city has a population of 111,258 (2021 estimate),Monimbo ''Monimbo'' is the 1983 follow-up novel to the 1980 Arnaud De Borchgrave- Robert Moss spy thriller '' The Spike''. Plot Fidel Castro attends a conference in Monimbo, Nicaragua. It begins with the kidnapping of a U.S. Senator in Puerto Rico by th ...
*
Subtiaba Subtiaba is an extinct Oto-Manguean language which was spoken on the Pacific slope of Nicaragua, especially in the Subtiaba district of León. Edward Sapir established a connection between Subtiaba and Tlapanec. When Lehmann wrote about it in ...


The Caribbean

*
Ciguayo At the time of first contact between Europe and the Americas, the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean included the Taíno of the northern Lesser Antilles, most of the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas, the Kalinago of the Lesser Antilles, the Cigua ...
*
Guanahatabey The Guanahatabey (also spelled Guanajatabey) were an indigenous people of western Cuba at the time of European contact. Archaeological and historical studies suggest the Guanahatabey were archaic hunter-gatherers with a distinct language and cu ...
*
Island Carib The Kalinago, also known as the Island Caribs or simply Caribs, are an indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. They may have been related to the Mainland Caribs (Kalina) of South America, but they spoke an unrelated languag ...
* Macorix (Northern and Southern dialects) * Shebaya *
Taíno The Taíno were a historic indigenous people of the Caribbean whose culture has been continued today by Taíno descendant communities and Taíno revivalist communities. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the pri ...
(Classic Taíno and Ciboney Taíno dialects) * Yao {{Americas topic, List of extinct languages of Central America or Caribbean
Extinct languages An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers, especially if the language has no living descendants. In contrast, a dead language is one that is no longer the native language of any community, even if it is still in use, li ...
Extinct languages An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers, especially if the language has no living descendants. In contrast, a dead language is one that is no longer the native language of any community, even if it is still in use, li ...
Extinct Extinct Central America and the Caribbean