Lengua Ngäbere

Lengua Ngäbere
 
El idioma ngäbe¹ —conocido también como guaymí— es un idioma amerindio de la familia chibchana hablado por el pueblo ngäbe. Hay 133.092 hablantes en Panamá (comarca Ngäbe-Buglé) y Costa Rica (provincia de Puntarenas).

 
Ngäbere is part of the Chibchan language family, which is indigenous to an area that extends from eastern Honduras to northern Colombia. Ngäbere is one of two languages classified under a group called Guaymí. The other is a related but mutually unintelligible language called Buglere, spoken by the Buglé people within the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé.^[5]
While all varieties of Ngäbere are grammatically identical and mutually intelligible, there are phonological and lexical differences that vary from region to region. The people of different regions may use different words for the same concept or pronounce the same word differently.^[6] Vowel sounds may change; for example, the word for “to see” that is pronounced /toen/ in some regions may be pronounced /tuen/ in other areas; the word for “you” may be pronounced /mä/ or /ma/ depending on the region. Syllable stress may also vary regionally—for instance, the word for “dove,” ütü, may be pronounced with the accent on the first syllable, or with equal strong accents on both syllables, depending on the speaker’s region.^[7] The Penonomeño was somewhat more distinct, but is no longer spoken. Más información.