Garifuna language

Garifuna, also known as Karif, is an Arawakan language of the Ta-Arawakan branch descended through Igneri and Kalinago ancestry, spoken by the Garifuna people along the northern coast of Central America. It originated in the Lesser Antilles islands of St. Vincent and Dominica and spread to the Central American mainland after the British deported the Garifuna people to the north coast of Honduras in 1797, from where it later spread to Nicaragua, Guatemala and Belize. It has roughly 120,000 native speakers concentrated in Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and Nicaragua, with additional communities in United States cities including New York and Houston. UNESCO classifies Garifuna as vulnerable, and in 2008 the language was declared a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity alongside Garifuna music and dance.