Languages of Costa Rica

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Languages of Costa Rica
Official Spanish
Indigenous Maléku, Cabécar, Bribri, Guaymí, Buglere
Foreign American English, Italian, Haitian Creole, French, Tagalog

Costa Rica's official and predominant language is Spanish. The variety spoken there, Costa Rican Spanish, is a form of Central American Spanish.

Contents

Costa Rica is a linguistically diverse country and home to at least five living local indigenous languages spoken by the descendants of pre-Columbian peoples: Maléku, Cabécar, Bribri, Guaymí, and Buglere.

Immigration has also brought people and languages from various countries around the world. Along the Atlantic Ocean in Limón Province, inhabited primarily by Afro-Caribs, an English-based creole language called Mekatelyu or Patua is spoken to varying degrees, as is English; many older Limonenses speak English as their native language. The Quakers community, who settled in Monteverde in the early 1950s, speaks an older dialect of English, using thou instead of you . [1] [2] Costa Rican Sign Language is also spoken by the deaf community, and Costa Rican Spanish slang is known as "pachuco".

Since 2015 Costa Rica is officially known as a multi-ethnic and pluralistic republic. The greatest advance in this respect came with the amendment of Article 76 of the Constitution of Costa Rica, which now states: "Spanish is the official language of the Nation. However, the State will oversee the maintenance and cultivation of indigenous national languages." [3]

Living indigenous languages

Currently, in Costa Rica, there are six indigenous languages that are still used by their respective populations. All of them belonging to the Chibcha language family. Those languages are:

Extinct and formerly spoken languages

An indigenous language map of Costa Rica, pre-Spanish arrival. Map of indigenous languages in Costa Rica.png
An indigenous language map of Costa Rica, pre-Spanish arrival.

Prior to the 9th century, only languages of the Chibchan family were spoken in Costa Rica. The extinct Huetar language, probably affiliated with the Chibchan family, served as the lingua franca for the interior of Costa Rica and was considered by the Spanish upon their arrival to be the "general language" of all Costa Rica. [4]

Historically, the range of the still-living Rama language also extended south into northern Costa Rica, where the Maléku language was also spoken. Boruca, an Isthmic Chibchan language, was formerly spoken across the southern Pacific slope while Bribri and Cabécar speakers inhabited the northern Atlantic slope. [4] An unknown language, known only as the lengua de Paro, was also spoken on the western coast of the Gulf of Nicoya. [5]

During the 9th century, speakers of the now-extinct Oto-Manguean language Chorotega controlled most of northeast Costa Rica. Other Mesoamerican peoples penetrated Costa Rican territory. The Nahua speakers known as Nicarao, named after their cacique of the same name, lived in enclaves in Guanacaste Province as well as near the delta of the Sixaola River, [5] speaking a dialect closer to nuclear Nahuatl in Mexico than to the Pipil of El Salvador and Nicaragua. [4]

At the beginning of the 21st century, two Costa Rican indigenous languages became extinct. Térraba, a variety of the Téribe language, was spoken in the indigenous reserve of Térraba in the southeast of Puntarenas province. Until its recent extinction, Boruca was spoken in the Boruca and Curré reserves in the southeast of Puntarenas province.

European languages

According to the Education First international school, Costa Rica ranks highly in English-language proficiency in Central & South America. [6] It is the most widely spoken foreign language, and in addition to being a compulsory subject in school it is the most common foreign language exam taken for entry into tertiary education [7]

This language also has the support and promotion of dozens of cultural institutions founded by one of the most important English-speaking communities in Central America and made up of more than: 20,000 Americans, 10,000 Canadians, 6,000 British and their descendants living in the country, who use the language on a daily basis in parallel with Spanish. [8]

Also noteworthy is the fact that in the northwestern region of the Province of Puntarenas, in the communities of Monteverde and Santa Elena, Quakers speak the typical English of their community, using "thou" instead of "you" and other characteristics typical of the Quaker dialect. In addition, in many other parts of the country there are Mennonite communities from the United States, where English is also used by the population.. [9] [10]

One of the largest German communities in Central America is present in the country, with more than 2,000 Germans currently living in Costa Rica. Not counting almost 2000 Swiss, 2000 Mennonites of predominantly German descent and more than 600 Austrians, making up a large German-Costa Rican community that practices and promotes the use of the German language in the nation. [11]

Also noteworthy is the great German migration that took place in Costa Rica during the 19th and 20th centuries, 22 inheriting the country a rich sociocultural and economic contribution. Currently, thousands of Costa Ricans are descendants of these migrants and the Goethe Institut has founded dozens of cultural institutions and even educational centers such as the Humbolt Schule and churches that promote the spread of German in the country. [12]

In addition, in the north of the country, in the Huetar North Region, in Sarapiquí and in San Carlos there are communities founded, colonized or populated by German and Mennonite migrants where their descendants still use German or use a dialect from Old German called Plautdeutsch. [13]

Costa Rica has the largest Italian community in Central America, with more than 2,500 Italians living in the country. In addition, almost 2,000 Swiss also reside in Costa Rica. This, and the many descendants of the Italian migratory flows of the 19th century, create a large Italian-speaking community with institutions and cultural alliances, such as the Dante Alighieri Institute, that promote the teaching of the Italian language. [14] [15]

In addition, in the San Vito area and other communities in the southeast of the nation, Italian is spoken, due to the Italian agricultural colonization that took place in these areas and was promoted by the government. Currently, it is also spoken a dialect resulting from Hispanic influence on the descendants of Italian migrants and Italian is taught as a compulsory subject in regional public education. [16] [17]

In the country, one of the most promoted and popular foreign languages is French. It is noteworthy that Costa Rica has the largest French-speaking community in Central America, being the only Central American country that is an observer Member of the International Organization of La Francophonie, and with more than: 2,000 French, 10,000 Canadians, 2,000 Swiss, and 200 Haitians. [18] In addition, during the nineteenth century the largest migratory flow of French in Central America was registered, directed towards Costa Rica, which has contributed a large number of French-speaking descendants to the country and has produced the creation of many institutions and cultural alliances and even a school that carry out a great promotion and dissemination of French learning in the population. Also, French is a compulsory subject taught in many schools and in the Third Cycle of Basic Education, it is taught in countless schools and can be chosen as a subject to take the baccalaureate exam. [19]

Asian languages

In the 19th century, important groups of Chinese emigrated to Costa Rica and settled mainly in the provinces of Limón, Puntarenas, and Guanacaste, preserving their language, Mandarin or Cantonese, depending on their origin. Currently, there is a constant migratory flow of Chinese and their descendants, who settled in the country use their language on a daily basis, living in Costa Rica about 45,000 Chinese and representing one of the largest Chinese communities in Central America. [20] [21]

In this way, several cultural and even religious institutions and alliances have been created that promote Chinese culture and the spread of the Chinese language in the country. Also, it highlights the large number of educational centers that teach Mandarin as a compulsory subject. [22]

Another language with a notable presence is Arabic, used by more than 200 Lebanese, 200 Emiratis, and a large number of Lebanese, Arab and 19th century immigrants from the Middle East who live in the country. [23] Furthermore, Costa Rica has one of the largest Muslim communities in Central America, which uses this language as its liturgical language. There are dozens of cultural institutions in the nation that spread the Arabic language and culture, such as the Lebanese House. [24]

The Hebrew language is also used as a liturgical language by the Jewish Costa Rican community, one of the largest in Central America, and it is also used by more than 1000 Israelis and their descendants who live in the country. [25] This language is also promoted by Zionist institutes present in the nation. The large number of Jews living in Costa Rica derives from isolated migratory processes, such as the great Polish immigration or the entry of many Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews to the territory, bringing with it the use of Hebrew as a religious language. [26]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chibchan languages</span> Language family of Central and South America

The Chibchan languages make up a language family indigenous to the Isthmo-Colombian Area, which extends from eastern Honduras to northern Colombia and includes populations of these countries as well as Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. The name is derived from the name of an extinct language called Chibcha or Muysccubun, once spoken by the people who lived on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense of which the city of Bogotá was the southern capital at the time of the Spanish Conquista. However, genetic and linguistic data now indicate that the original heart of Chibchan languages and Chibchan-speaking peoples might not have been in Colombia, but in the area of the Costa Rica-Panama border, where the greatest variety of Chibchan languages has been identified.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Costa Rica</span> Overview of the culture of Costa Rica

Costa Rican culture has been heavily influenced by Spanish culture ever since the Spanish colonization of the Americas including the territory which today forms Costa Rica. Parts of the country have other strong cultural influences, including the Caribbean province of Limón and the Cordillera de Talamanca which are influenced by Jamaican immigrants and indigenous native people, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Limón Province</span> Province of Costa Rica

Limón is one of seven provinces in Costa Rica. The province covers an area of 9,189 km2, and has a population of 386,862.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monteverde</span> Canton in Puntarenas province, Costa Rica

Monteverde is the twelfth canton of the Puntarenas province of Costa Rica. It is located in the Cordillera de Tilarán mountain range. Roughly a four-hour drive from the Central Valley, Monteverde is one of the country's major ecotourism destinations. The area is host to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and several other natural attractions, which draw considerable numbers of tourists and naturalists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isthmo-Colombian Area</span> Historical cultural area in the Americas

The Isthmo-Colombian Area is defined as a cultural area encompassing those territories occupied predominantly by speakers of the Chibchan languages at the time of European contact. It includes portions of the Central American isthmus like eastern El Salvador, eastern Honduras, Caribbean Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and northern Colombia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bribri people</span> Chibchan ethnic group of southeast Costa Rica

The Bribri are an Indigenous people in eastern Costa Rica and northern Panama. Today, most Bribri people speak the Bribri language or Spanish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethnic groups in Central America</span>

Central America is a subregion of the Americas formed by six Latin American countries and one (officially) Anglo-American country, Belize. As an isthmus it connects South America with the remainder of mainland North America, and comprises the following countries : Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.

The Maléku Jaíka language, also called Malecu, Maleku, Guatuso, Watuso-Wétar, and Guetar, is an Indigenous American language in Costa Rica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bribri language</span> Chibchan language of southeast Costa Rica

Bribri, also known as Bri-bri, Bribriwak, and Bribri-wak, is a Chibchan language, from a language family indigenous to the Isthmo-Colombian Area, which extends from eastern Honduras to northern Colombia and includes populations of those countries as well as Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. As of 2002, there were about 11,000 speakers left. An estimate by the National Census of Costa Rica in 2011 found that Bribri is currently spoken by 54.7% of the 12,785 Bribri people, about 7,000 individuals. It is a tonal language whose word order is subject–object–verb.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanish conquest of the Chibchan nations</span> Part of the Spanish conquest of Colombia

The Spanish conquest of the Chibchan nations refers to the conquest by the Spanish monarchy of the Chibcha language-speaking nations, mainly the Muisca and Tairona that inhabited present-day Colombia, beginning the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in Costa Rica</span>

Christianity is the predominant religion in Costa Rica, with Protestantism being its largest denomination. Catholicism is also the state religion, but the government generally upholds people's religious freedom in practice.

Chinese people have been immigrating to Costa Rica since the mid-nineteenth century. They come from The People's Republic of China, and from Taiwan. The Sino-Costa Rican community is of great cultural, economic and social importance. It is one of the main Chinese communities in America, in the Caribbean Basin it is only surpassed by that of Panama, with around 9,000 citizens living in the country.

The Cabécar language is an indigenous American language of the Chibchan language family spoken by the Cabécar people in the inland Turrialba Region, Cartago Province, Costa Rica. As of 2007, 2,000 speakers were monolingual. It is the only indigenous language in Costa Rica with monolingual adults. The language is also known by its dialect names Chirripó, Estrella, Telire, and Ujarrás.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian Costa Ricans</span> Costa Rican citizens of Italian descent

Italian Costa Ricans are Costa Rican-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to Costa Rica during the Italian diaspora, or Italian-born people in Costa Rica. Most of them reside in San Vito, the capital city of the Coto Brus Canton. Both Italians and their descendants are referred to in the country as tútiles. There were over 380,000 Costa Ricans of Italian descent, corresponding to about 7.5% of Costa Rica's population, while there were around 2,300 Italian citizens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous peoples of Costa Rica</span>

Indigenous people of Costa Rica, or Native Costa Ricans, are the people who lived in what is now Costa Rica prior to European and African contact and the descendants of those peoples. About 114,000 indigenous people live in the country, comprising 2.4% of the total population. Indigenous Costa Ricans strive to keep their cultural traditions and languages alive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Costa Ricans</span> People from the country of Costa Rica

Costa Ricans are the citizens of Costa Rica, a multiethnic, Spanish-speaking nation in Central America. Costa Ricans are predominantly Castizos, other ethnic groups people of Indigenous, European, African and Asian descent.

At the 2011 census, the number of immigrants in Costa Rica totaled about 390,000 individuals, or about 9% of the country's population. Following a considerable drop from 1950 through 1980, immigration to Costa Rica has increased in recent decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cabécar people</span>

The Cabécar are an indigenous group of the remote Talamanca region of eastern Costa Rica. They speak Cabécar, a language belonging to the Chibchan language family of the Isthmo-Colombian Area of lower Central America and northwestern Colombia. According to census data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica, the Cabécar are the largest indigenous group in Costa Rica with a population of nearly 17,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indigenous territory (Costa Rica)</span>

According to Costa Rica’s 1977 Indigenous Law, the Indigenous Territories are the traditional lands of the legally recognized indigenous peoples of Costa Rica. The Republic of Costa Rica recognizes eight native ethnicities; Bribris, Chorotegas, Malekus, Ngöbe, Huetars, Cabecars, Borucas and Terrabas.

The Bribri Talamanca Indigenous Territory is one of the four Costa Rican indigenous territories of the Bribri ethnic group. It borders the Talamanca Cabecar Indigenous Territory. It was created by decree in 1985 and is located in the canton of Talamanca, Limón Province. It covers an approximate area of 43,690 hectares of a predominantly mountainous area.

References

  1. ↑ "Monteverde Friends School - Our Community - History". Archived from the original on 7 July 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  2. ↑ "Quaker Language".
  3. ↑ "Costa Rica 1949 (rev. 2011)". Constitute. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 Constenla Umaña, Adolfo (2011). "La diversidad linguística de Costa Rica: las lenguas indígenas". Revista de Filología y Lingüística de la Universidad de Costa Rica. 37 (2): 93–106. doi: 10.15517/rfl.v37i2.6424 . hdl: 10669/14483 .
  5. 1 2 Adolfo Constenla Umaña, Eugenia Ibarra Rojas (2009). "MAPA DE LA DISTRIBUCIÓN TERRITORIAL APROXIMADA DE LAS LENGUAS INDÍGENAS HABLADAS EN COSTA RICA Y EN SECTORES COLINDANTES DE NICARAGUA Y DE PANAMÁ EN EL SIGLO XVI". Lingüística Chibcha. 28: 109–111.
  6. ↑ EPI EF. "Clasificación EPI EF" . Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  7. ↑ Córdoba Cubillo, Patricia; Coto Keith, Rossina; Ramírez Salas, Marlene (2005). "LA ENSEÑANZA DEL INGLÉS EN COSTA RICA Y LA DESTREZA AUDITIVA EN EL AULA DESDE UNA PERSPECTIVA HISTÓRICA" (PDF). Estudio universitario sobre la historia y eficacia de la enseñanza del idioma inglés en el país. Universidad de Costa Rica, Facultad de Educación, Instituto de Investigación en Educación. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  8. ↑ Marín Arroyo, Edwin (2012). "Cronología de la enseñanza del inglés en Costa Rica durante el Siglo XX". Estudio universitario sobre la historia del idioma inglés en el país. Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica – Revista Comunicación. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  9. ↑ Zúñiga, Alejandra (2002). "Cuando llegaron los cuáqueros". Artículo sobre la historia de los cuáqueros asentados en Monteverde. Revista Dominical de La Nación. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  10. ↑ Solano, Hugo (8 May 2011). "Cuáqueros: 60 años aquí". Artículo sobre la historia de las comunidades cuáqueras costarricenses. Al Día. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  11. ↑ Corella, Randall (2005). "Una vida al pie de La Palabra". Artículo sobre los menonitas de Costa Rica. Revista Proa de La Nación. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  12. ↑ Sauter, Franz. Los alemanes en Costa Rica La Nación. 1999.
  13. ↑ Berth, Christian La inmigración alemana en Costa Rica, migración, crisis y cambio entre 1920 y 1950 entrevistas con descendientes alemanes.Instituto de Historia Contemporánea de Hamburgo
  14. ↑ Bariatti, Rita. La inmigración italiana en Costa Rica. Revista Acta Académica. Universidad de Centro América. San José, 1997 ISSN   1017-7507
  15. ↑ Cappelli, Vittorio. Nelle altre Americhe. Calabresi in Colombia, Panamà, Costa Rica e Guatemala. La Mongolfiera. Doria di Cassano Jonio, 2004.
  16. ↑ Weizmann H. (1987) Emigrantes a la conquista de la selva (2.ª ed.)Comité de la Sociedad Cultural "Dante Alighieri" de San Vito. Costa Rica.
  17. ↑ Sansonetti V. (1995) Quemé mis naves en esta montaña: La colonización de la altiplanicie de Coto Brus y la fundación de San Vito de Java. Jiménez y Tanzi. San José, Costa Rica.
  18. ↑ Meléndez Obando, Mauricio (2001). "Franceses en Costa Rica". Artículo sobre la inmigración y las familias descendientes francesas de Costa Rica. La Nación. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  19. ↑ Picado de León, Nitzy (8 April 2016). "ABR 2016 Costa Rica y Francia firman acuerdo para reforzar la enseñanza del francés en las aulas". Artículo sobre el acuerdo de intercambio en docentes de francés entre la República de Costa Rica y la República Francesa y datos sobre la enseñanza del francés en el país. Ministerio de Educación Pública de la República de Costa Rica. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  20. ↑ Bermúdez-Valverde, Quendy Las leyes anti-inmigratorias y la inmigración china a Costa Rica Acta Académica N° 50, 2012
  21. ↑ Soto Quirós, Ronald Percepciones y actitudes políticas con respecto a la minoría china en Costa Rica: 1897–1911
  22. ↑ Will, Rachel (21 October 2011). "China's Stadium Diplomacy – 中国体育场外交". Artículo que informa sobre los intereses de la República Popular China en la República de Costa Rica y que menciona la cantidad de chinos que habitan en el país (in Spanish). US-China Today. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  23. ↑ Martínez Esquivel, Ricardo. Inmigrantes libaneses en Costa Rica y sus participaciones en la masonería del país (primera mitad del siglo XX) 25 de octubre de 2010z
  24. ↑ KUSUMO, Fitra Ismu, "ISLAM EN AMÉRICA LATINA Tomo III: El Islam hoy desde América Latina (Spanish Edition)"
  25. ↑ Migraciones Judías en Centroamérica y el Caribe: Proyección Epidemiológica de la Enfermedad de Gaucher Academia Biológica Digital
  26. ↑ Guzmán Stein, Miguel. La migración sefardita en Costa Rica y la lapidaria fúnebre como fuente de investigación de una comunidad inédita Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine V Congreso Centroamericano de Historia. 19 de julio de 2000.
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