Guaymí, or Ngäbere, also known as Movere, Chiriquí, and Valiente, is a Chibchan language spoken by the indigenous Ngäbe people in Panama and Costa Rica.

[2] Ngäbere is part of the Chibchan language family, which is indigenous to an area that extends from eastern Honduras to northern Colombia.

The other is a related but mutually unintelligible language called Buglere, spoken by the Buglé people within the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé.

[1] Some features of the alphabet are as follows: Standardization of spelling has been slow to solidify after the creation of a writing system, especially regarding the transcription of vowels.

This appears to have been influenced by the different alphabets and pronunciation of the various Spanish and English speaking researchers attempting to create a representation that corresponds to the spelling system in their language.

The word order of the Ngäbere sentence generally follows a Subject – Object – Verb pattern, which is a common feature of Chibchan languages.

For example, the word kä denotes name, earth, year, climate, and place, depending on context.

Other examples are sö (moon, month, tobacco), kukwe (language, word, topic, issue, roast, burn), kri (tree, large), tö (mind, intelligence, to want, summer), and tare (pain, difficulty, love)[16] The regular noun phrase consists of the nucleus (head noun or pronoun) followed by the possible addition of a modifier, quantifier, or demonstrative.

For example, the verb mike (to put) can be conjugated in the following ways by taking the root mika and adding suffixes.

[18] It must be kept in mind that the number of speakers of Ngäbere is somewhat lower than the ethnic population, given the fact that many younger people today are not learning the language.

Before the formation of the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé, census figures for Ngäbe population were based on whether or not they spoke the native language.

One such theory is that the term was derived from the Buglere word ngwamigda, which means “indigenous.” [20] Rolando Rodríguez offers another theory of the origin of the words Guaymí and Bogotá in reference to the Ngäbe and Buglé peoples, respectively, that the terms come from both the Ngäbere and Buglere languages: Vagueness and long silences are normal and acceptable in communication.

Traditionally a man was not supposed to speak directly to his u, or father-in-law, and me, mother-in-law, although he was bound in service to them in return for marrying their daughter.

Dicho factor causa un conflicto debido a las grandes diferencias que existen entre los dos idiomas” (the presence of Spanish as the language of predominant culture, or at least coexistent in the region.

Said factor causes a conflict due to the great differences that exist between the two languages)[25] The Ngäbe people's feelings about the Latinos can be seen in how they initially called their invaders: Sulia, which is a kind of small cockroach.

This produced a negative effect in the self-esteem of the Ngäbes for a long time, whose impact could be seen when a Ngäbe preferred to abstain from speaking in front of a person of another cultural group because of embarrassment.

Due to growing concern about the future of the language and culture, there has been a recent resurgence in cultural pride, even a reclamation of sorts of a position of power: “En término general los Ngäbes se sienten orgullosos de su cultura y de su idioma.

[Ahora] se sienten más cómodos de hablar y practicar los elementos de las costumbres y tradiciones, como los bailes, y decir sus nombres en Ngäbere sin pena.” (In general terms the Ngäbes feel proud of their culture and language.

They [now] feel more comfortable speaking and practicing the elements of their customs and traditions, such as the dances, and say their names in Ngäbere without shame.”[26] Until recent decades, it was nearly unheard of for a Ngäbe to receive an education past primary school.

According to the Minority Rights Group International, only 18% of children ages 15–19 in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé receive schooling beyond sixth grade, compared to the national average of 65%.

Although the government offers welfare programs such as La Red de Oportunidades (Network of Opportunities) which gives women with children $50 a month that is supposed to help out with education expenses, oftentimes those resources are spent before they are even received.

Even more seriously, “Due to inadequate education and poor Spanish language skills members of this group are often unaware of their rights and fail to employ legal channels when threatened” by outside coercions from mining and power companies, and the like.

Rodríguez[26]) observes that “la gente en general está enfocando su interés otra vez en el idioma pero no tiene habilidad para leer su propio idioma y al hacerlo les da pena.” (The people in general are again focusing their interest in the language, but they don't have the ability to read their own language and they are embarrassed doing it).

There was also a new university established in 2010, La Universidad de las Américas (UDELAS), located in Chichica, which is dedicated to providing a degree in intercultural bilingual education.

In 2012 UDELAS will have its first graduating class, and it is hoped that, according to Professor Julia Mora, it will produce a notable change in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé by training teachers who will rescue the Ngäbere language.

[26] It is hoped that more Ngäbes will be trained as teachers who will show greater dedication to the preservation of Ngäbe culture and language by working within the Comarca.

Among the first efforts to study the language was a basic lexicon written in the beginning of the 19th century by Padre Blas José Franco.

José Murillo notes that, “Aunque los ejemplos de este autor son numerosos, carecen, en general, de transmorfologización, lo cual hace al trabajo poco útil.” (Although the examples of this author are numerous, they lack, in general, in transmorphologization, which makes them of little use to work with”[2] Alphonse was not a trained linguist, so while his effort was well-intentioned and his long history with the people was insightful, it remained for the next generation of linguists to offer a more detailed and correct description of Ngäbere grammar.

During the 1970s and 80s more attention was focused on studying the phonetic and grammatical structures, during which time a definite alphabet and writing system was developed.

These include stories from the oral tradition; a translation of the New Testament, Kukwe Kuin Ngöbökwe[33] and a hymnal, Ari Kare Ngöböye.