Maleku Dictionary Project

The Endangered Language Documentation Programme (ELDP) provides grants worldwide to for the linguistic documentation of endangered language and knowledge. Grantees create multimedia collection of endangered languages. These collections are preserved and made freely available through the Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) housed at the library of SOAS University of London.

Maleku, also known as Guatuso, is a Chibchan language of Costa Rica. Its closest relatives are the extinct Huetar and nearly extinct Rama of Nicaragua. According to the latest census (2011) Maleku's total number of speakers has declined by approximately 50% since turn of the century, putting the total number of them at about 350. There are currently no known efforts to revert this trend. This project aims at compiling a trilingual (Spanish-Maleku-English) dictionary while evaluating the linguistic and cultural situation in the three reservations where it is spoken, as well as to draw an action plan for future endeavors. Primary investigator: Roberto Herrera Miranda

Project Details


Location: Costa Rica, Costa Rica, Brazil, Central America, South America, Americas Organiser(s): Endangered Languages Documentation Programme Project partner(s): University of Leipzig Funder(s): Arcadia Funding received: £7,012.00 Commencement Date: 01/2011
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