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Until 1950, Ulwa, or southern Sumu, was the primary language of the eastern Nicaraguan town of Karawala, population 935. In 1950, the Nolan Lumber Company came to Karawala, drastically changing the linguistic picture through the introduction of a sizable Miskitu-speaking workforce.
Since thepeople of Karawala were bilingual in Ulwa and Miskitu, the shift to Miskitu on the pari of the whole town was not a hardship. But the shift had serious consequences for Ulwa. At this point, only 18 percent of the population under 20 years of age speaks Ulwa. This fact has not gone unnoticed by the Ulwa people of the town, and they have taken Steps to address the matter, both by documenting the grammar, lexicon, and oral literature of the language and by giving serious consideration to measures that might be taken to stop the decline of Ulwa. This article describes the condition of Ulwa and the processes leading to its present state, äs well äs the work oflinguistics and UYUTMUBAL, the six-member Ulwa Language Committee, to develop materials and strategies for strengthening the Position of Ulwa in the Karawala Community.
