| Boruca | |
|---|---|
| Bronca | |
| Spoken in | Costa Rica. |
| Ethnicity | Boruca people |
| Native speakers | few (date missing) |
| Language family | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | brn |
The Boruca language (also known as Bronka , Bronca or Brúnkajk.) is the native language of the Boruca people of Costa Rica. It is one of the Chibchan languages. It is nearly extinct; it was spoken fluently by only five women in 1986, while 30 to 35 others spoke it nonfluently. The rest of the tribe's 1,000 members speak Spanish. The language 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.
Greeting: ¿Ishójcre rában? = ¿Qué tal? = What's up? Morén, morén. = Bien = Fine, well.[1]
The Personal Pronouns in Boruca (the ˇ represents a glottal stop.)[2]
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | át | diˇ / diˇ rójc |
| 2nd | bá | biˇ / biˇ rójc |
| 3rd | i | i rójc / iˇ rójc |
The Numbers (The "ṅ" is used in place of an "n" with an "¨" over top, as this character is unavailable. This produces a slightly different sound from the normal n or ñ.)[3]
| Numbers | Bronka |
|---|---|
| 1 | éˇxe, éˇxi |
| 2 | búˇc |
| 3 | maṅ |
| 4 | bájcaṅ |
| 5 | shishcáṅ |
| 6 | téshan |
| 7 | cúj, cújc |
| 8 | éjtaṅ |
| 9 | cújtaṅ, éjcuj |
| 10 | téjcuj, cróshtaṅ, búˇc cúj |