Lucumí language

Lucumí
Native to Cuba
Native speakers
 None[1]
(liturgical language)
Language codes
ISO 639-3 luq
Glottolog lucu1238[2]

Lucumí is a lexicon of words and short phrases derived from Yoruba language in Cuba and used in as the liturgical language of Santería in Cuba and the Cuban Diaspora.[3][4]

Since the Yoruba language is no longer a vernacular among the Yoruba descendants in the Americas from the time of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, and by extension all the devotees of the Orisa religion as it developed in Cuba, the remains of the liturgical usage reflect deterioration. It has been influenced by Spanish phonetics and pronunciation. There has also been some minimal influence from Bantu languages and Fongbe, some of which were spoken by other enslaved Africans in close proximity in the Americas.

The Yoruba descendants in these communities, as well as non-descendants that have adopted one of the Yoruba-based religions in the diaspora, no longer speak any of the Yoruba dialects with any level of fluency. Its status as a spirit language also means that there isn't an understanding of correct grammar standards nor proper intonation, since Yoruba language is a tone language and relies upon proper inflection for meaning. Santería practitioners claim that spirit possession in Cuba shows that it manifested in the devotee at a Cuban orisa ceremony speaking in Bozal.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lucumí at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Lucumi". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. ↑ George Brandon. Santeria from Africa to the New World. Indiana University Press. p. 56.
  4. ↑ Wirtz, Kristina. 2014. Performing Afro-Cuba: Image, Voice, Spectacle in the Making of Race and History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-11905-2


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