Garífuna language, anArawakan language spoken by approximately 190,000 people inBelize,Guatemala,Honduras, andNicaragua, and also by many who have emigrated to theUnited States. Thelanguage’s presence inCentral America is relatively recent. African slavesmingled with theCaribs ofSaint Vincent andDominica, and a newethnic group, the Garífuna, emerged. That group was deported by British forces to Central America beginning in 1797, the majority arriving about 1832. Thus, Garífuna is a variety ofIsland Carib (also known as Iñeri or Igneri), an offshoot from 300 years ago of the Island Carib women’s speech of theLesser Antilles. Those islands had been invaded by Caribs who claimed descent from the Galibi, a Cariban group fromBrazil and what is nowFrench Guiana. The language remained basically that of the aboriginalArawakan people, but with a men’sjargon in which Carib forms could be substituted for Arawakan equivalents, based probably on an old Caribpidgin, scarcely attested. The women’s Arawakan language did not change much over time, but the Garífuna men’s forms derived from Carib were mostly lost. That explains how Garífuna (Black Carib) can be an Arawakan language but have a name that suggests a Cariban connection. The names Carib and Garífuna are both derived from Proto-Cariban *karípona ‘native,indigenous person.’