Honduran Lenca is a language that was spoken with minor dialect differences in Intibuca, Opatoro, Guajiquiro (Huajiquiro), Similatón (modern Cabañas), and Santa Elena. The name can be misleading; although primarily spoken in Honduras, it was also spoken in El Salvador close to the Honduran border. It is distantly related to Salvadoran Lenca.
Honduran Lenca can be divided into four dialects: western (Intibuca), central (Santa Elena, Chinacla), eastern (Guajiquiro, Opatoro), and southern (Similaton).
The basic syllable structure is CVC. It is hypothesized that earlier forms of the language had a CV structure, but shifted towards CVC through final vowel deletion. Stress is poorly documented, but is thought to have been syllable final.
The following overview is based on King (2017).
Finite verbs are obligatorily suffixed for subject.
Below lies the conjugation of the verb :
There is some variation in some of the endings; for instance, also appears as and as . may have had an alternate form .
Gerunds are formed with the suffix or , and participles with the suffix or . Whether the suffix form uses i depends on whether the stem ends in a consonant or vowel.
There are two verbs, and that more or less correspond to Spanish and . They can be used as auxiliary verbs: can be used after the gerund to produce the present continuous aspect (e.g., "He/she is speaking"), and can be used after the participle to produce the perfective aspect (e.g., "He/she has spoken"). There is a future construction formed by using as an auxiliary verb after the stem, e.g., "He/she will speak". There is an alternate future tense which may have been formed from a contraction of the auxiliary future construction, and here would take the form .
Negation is accomplished by inserting the particle in between a verb stem and the subject marker: "He/she does not speak". The suffix , which appears after subject endings, is thought to have had a stylistic function, perhaps indicating familiarity between interlocutors.
Proclitics added to nouns include demonstratives and possessives (which also serve as object clitics). Enclitics include postpositions and a definite article (also attested as , , and ), which was common in the Guajiquiro dialect to the extent that it appears to have been unmarked, yet it is unattested in other dialects. If combined, the definite article comes before any postpositions. The possessives can be added to postpositions, functioning similarly to relational nouns. There is an optional topic marker , which follows any enclitics and also functions as a postposition meaning "about". can not occur with in the same noun phrase, but it can appear with the proclitics. It can also be directly added to the proclitics to form independent demonstrative and personal pronouns. Quantifiers precede enclitics.
The following overview is based on King (2017).
Noun phrase structure can be summarized as the following:
Proclitic + Noun + (Adjective) + (Quantifier) + Enclitic
Where proclitics can be either possessives or determinatives and enclitics the definite article, postpositions, the topic marker, or the short copula.
Genitive constructions are barely attested, but are assumed to have taken the order possessor-possessed, with the possession taking a possessive:
The unmarked word order is SOV:
However, pronominal subjects are commonly dropped:
Topics are also frequently moved to either the beginning or end of the clause. Adjuncts are frequently topicalized.
Coordination of clauses is accomplished by using the gerund for the first clause and fully conjugating the second:
The morpheme may be placed after the gerund:
can also coordinate nouns, and may be followed by the postposition 'with':
The gerund has an adjunct function when followed by the topic marker , often a temporal function:
Subordinate clauses are followed by subordinators such as or , and can precede or follow main clauses. A subordinate volitive clause may express purpose:
Loanwords from Spanish include:
Loanwords from Nawat include 'work' (noun), from Nawat .