sentences:  At the 2000 census, 71.1% of the members of the ethnic group declared themselves to speak the language, but only 49% considered it as the mother tongue.The 2011 National Census of Population reported that 67.5% of the population in these communities speaks this language (Avendaño 2018).The Ministry of Education (MEP, Minienciclopedia de los Territorios Indígenas de Costa Rica 2017) reported a Maléku population of 498 inhabitants.