Republic of Costa Rica, República de Costa Rica. 3,374,000 (1995). Literacy rate 93% (1989 WA). Information mainly from SIL 1982-1991. Christian. Blind population 2,500. Deaf institutions: 9. Data accuracy estimate: A1, A2. The number of languages listed for Costa Rica is 11. Of those, 10 are living languages and 1 is extinct.
BORUCA (BORUNCA, BURUNCA, BRUNCA, BRUNKA) [BRN] 5 women (1986 SIL) out of an ethnic group of 1,000 (1991). Southern coast between Playa Bonita and Golfito. Chibchan, Talamanca. Nearly all speak only Spanish. Typology: SOV. Agriculturalists: maize, beans, vegetables; hunter-gatherers. Nearly extinct.
BRIBRI (TALAMANCA) [BZD] 6,000 speakers of all ages (1995 UBS). Southern, along Lari, Telire, and Uren Rivers, Canton of Talamanca, Limon Province; Canton of Buenos Aires, Puntarenas Province. Chibchan, Talamanca. Dialects: SALITRE-CABAGRA, AMUBRE-KATSI, COROMA. Closest to, but unintelligible with Cabécar, Guatuso, and Teribe. At least 3 major dialects which are inherently intelligible. Speak Bribri in the home. 50% can read haltingly in Spanish; 2 to 3% in Bribri. Typology: SOV. Bible portions 1905-1994. Work in progress.
CABÉCAR (CHIRRIPÓ) [CJP] 3,000 (1986 UBS). Turrialba region. Chibchan, Talamanca. Dialects: CHIRRIPÓ, TELIRE, ESTRELLA, UJARRÁS. 80% monolingual. Typology: SOV. Levels of bilingualism in Spanish are 0:80%, 1-5:20%. NT 1993. Bible portions 1968-1984.
CHINESE, YUE (CANTONESE) [YUH] 4,500 including Mandarin and Hakka speakers (1981 MARC); 66,000,000 in all countries (1995 WA). Limón, Guanacaste, Puntarenas, San José. Sino-Tibetan, Chinese. Bible 1894-1981. NT 1877, in press (1996). Bible portions 1862-1903.
CHOROTEGA (CHOLUTECA, MANGUE, DIRIA, OROTINA) [CJR] Some from the ethnic group are also in El Salvador. Oto-Manguean, Chiapanec-Mangue. Dialects: CHOROTEGA, DIRIA, NAGRANDAN, NICOYA, ORISI, OROTINYA (OROTINA). Reported to have been quite similar to Chiapaneco of Mexico. Extinct.
COSTA RICAN SIGN LANGUAGE [CSR] Deaf sign language. May be related to Providencia Sign Language. Survey needed.
MALÉKU JAÍKA (GUATUSO) [GUT] 365 (1985 SIL). Northern. Chibchan, Rama. Bilingual in Spanish. Levels of bilingualism in Spanish are 0:0%, 1:0%, 2:4%, 3:58%, 4:37%, 5:1%. Agriculturalists: tubers, bananas, white cacao; hunters.
PLAUTDIETSCH (LOW GERMAN, MENNONITE GERMAN) [GRN] 100 in Costa Rica (1974 Minnich); 306,000 in all countries of whom 150,000 use it habitually (1983); 110,735 or more in Latin America are fairly monolingual. Sarapiqui area. Primarily in Canada. Also in USA, Mexico, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, Argentina, Belize, Russia, Kazakhstan, Germany. Indo-European, Germanic, West, Continental, Low. People speak Plautdietsch in the home. Church services are in Spanish. Christian. NT 1987. Bible portions 1984-1986.
SPANISH (ESPAÑOL, CASTELLANO) [SPN] 3,300,000 in Costa Rica (1995 estimate); 266,000,000 in all countries (1987 Time). Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Italo-Western, Western, Ibero-Romance, North, Central. National language. Braille Bible. Bible 1553-1979. NT 1543-1986. Bible portions 1514-1985.
TERIBE (TERRABA) [TFR] 5 in Costa Rica out of an ethnic group of 35 to 300 (1991 SIL), 1,500 in Panama (1991 SIL); 1,000 total. Southeastern, north coast. Chibchan, Talamanca. Terraba in Costa Rica who known only a little Teribe want to relearn the language and culture (1991). Bible portions 1979-1984. Work in progress.
WESTERN CARIBBEAN CREOLE ENGLISH [JAM] 55,100 in Costa Rica, 2% of the population (1986); 2,756,000 in all countries. East of San José, principally along the railroad between Siquirres and Limón, and south of Limón along the road. Also in Belize, Nicaragua, Panama, San Andrés and Providencia (Colombia), Jamaica, British West Indies. Creole, English based, Atlantic, Western. Dialect: LIMÓN CREOLE (MEKITELYU). Jamaican migrants settled in Limón about the middle of the 19th Century, as they also did in Panama, so those dialects are close. Spoken by people of all ages. Vigorous use among themselves. Comprehension of Standard English is somewhat limited. Creole is not considered proper for literary purposes. They consider Jamaican Creole to be more 'broken' than their own, and some say they do not comprehend San Andrés Creole. Work in progress.
Part of the Ethnologue, 13th Edition, Barbara F. Grimes, Editor.
Copyright © 1996, Summer Institute of Linguistics, Inc. All rights reserved.
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