HISPANISMOS EN EL DISCURSO BRIBRI

Abstract

In this paper I continue previous research on Spanish loan words in Bribri, an indigenous language spoken in Costa Rica by ca. 6000 people. I first summarize the findings of that first analysis, by which Hispanic loans in a conversation between two young native speakers of Bribri and fluent in Spanish were established, and then I compare those results with Spanish loans found in two interviews with two elder monolingual speakers of Bribri. It was found that, in both cases, most Spanish loans in Bribri discourse are not lexical but particles with discursive function. A considerable amount of examples from the Bribri interviews are provided.