Linguistic innovation and relationship terminology in the Pearl Lagoon basin of Nicaragua

This article is concerned with locating changes in Miskitu relationship ter minology within the broader histories of the Miskitu language and the Miski tu speaking peoples. Focusing specifically on the bilingual Miskitu and Eng lish speakers of Nicaragua's Pearl Lagoon basin, I show that ethnographical ly sensitive approaches to systems of relationship terminology, and to the subtle refashioning of these systems over time, can shed interesting light on the ways in which kinship and concepts of the person are imagined and ne gotiated at different historical moments.