Boruca language

Boruca
Bronca
Native toCosta Rica
Ethnicityone thousand Boruca people (1991)[1]
Native speakers
3 (2007)[1]
Chibchan
  • Boruca
Language codes
ISO 639-3brn
Glottologboru1252
ELPBoruca

The Boruca language (in Boruca: Brúnkajk;[2] also known as Bronka, Bronca, Brunca) is the native language of the Boruca people of Costa Rica. Boruca belongs to the Isthmian branch of the Chibchan languages. Though exact speaker numbers are uncertain, UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger has listed Boruca as "critically endangered".[2][3] It was spoken fluently by only five women in 1986, while 30 to 35 others spoke it non-fluently. The rest of the tribe's 1,000 members speak Spanish.

Boruca is taught as a second language at the local primary school Escuela Doris Z. Stone. One can hear Bronka words and phrases mixed into Spanish conversations but it is extremely rare to hear prolonged exchanges in Bronka.

  1. ^ a b Boruca at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b Hanson, Seibert; E, Aroline (2019). "Reexamining the classification of an endangered language: The vitality of Brunca". Language Documentation & Conservation. 13: 384–400. ISSN 1934-5275.
  3. ^ UNESCO. “UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger”. 2017. http://www.unesco.org/languages-atlas/index.php.