Cabécar language

Cabécar
Native to Costa Rica
Region Turrialba Region (Cartago Province)
Ethnicity Cabécar people 9,300 (2000)[1]
Native speakers
 8,800 (2000)[1]
80% monolingual (no date)[2]
Chibchan
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3 cjp
Glottolog cabe1245[3]

The Cabécar language is an indigenous American language of the Chibchan language family which is spoken by the Cabécar people in Costa Rica. Specifically, it is spoken in the inland Turrialba Region of the Cartago Province. 80% of speakers are monolingual;[2] as of 2007, it is the only indigenous language in Costa Rica with monolingual adults.[1] The language is also known by its dialect names Chirripó, Estrella, Telire, and Ujarrás.[1]

History

Cabécar is considered to be one of a few "Chibcha-speaking tribes," categorized by similarities in the languages that they speak. Other Chibcha speaking tribes include the Bribri and the Boruca, also of Costa Rica. It is believed that the languages of the Chibcha speaking tribes shared a common ancestor around 8,000 years ago. However, differences in the languages are thought to have come about from the influence of outside people, including influences from Mesoamerica. [4]

Geographic Distribution

Cabécar is an endangered language spoken in Costa Rica. It is spoken by the Cabécar people, and indigenous group located near the Talamancan mountains of Costa Rica. [4]

Dialects/Varieties

There are two different dialects of Cabécar, each of which has more narrow dialects within it. One of these is spoken in the north, while the other is spoken in southern parts of Costa Rica. [5]

Phonology

Cabécar uses a Latin alphabet with umlauts for (ë, ö), and tildes for (ã, ẽ, ĩ, õ, ũ).[6] Cabécar has twelve vowels, five of which are nasalized.[6]

Consonants

Bilabial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Postalveolar Velar Glottal
Plosive plain p t t͡ʃ k
voiced b d d͡ʒ
Fricative s ʃ h
Affricate t͡k t͡s
Flap ɺ
Nasal ŋ

Vowels

Oral Nasal
Close i ĩ
ɪ
Mid e ẽ
Open a ã
Back-mid o õ
Back-close u ũ
ʊ

[7]

Grammar

Cabécar has a canonical word order of subject–object–verb.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Cabécar at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. 1 2 Cabécar language at Ethnologue (10th ed., 1984). Note: Data may come from the 9th edition (1978).
  3. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Cabécar". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  4. 1 2 Barrantes, R.; Smouse, P.E.; Mohrenweiser, H.W.; Gershowitz, H.; Azofeifa, J.; Arias, T.D.; Neel, J.V. (1990). "Microevolution in Lower Central America: Genetic Characterization of the Chibcha-Speaking Groups of Costa Rica and Panama, and a Consensus Taxonom Based on Genetic and Linguistic Affinity". American Journal of Human Genetics. 43: 63–84.
  5. ↑ Margery-Peña, Enrique; Constenla-Umaña, Adolfo (16 February 2010). "Cabécar, Costa Rica". University of Costa Rica.
  6. 1 2 Native-languages.org
  7. ↑ Peña, Enrique Margery (1989). Diccionario cabécar-español, español-cabécar. Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica.

Resources

Gavarrete, M. E. (2015). The challenges of mathematics education for Indigenous teacher training. Intercultural Education, 26(4), 326-337.

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