The Bribri language is spoken in two regions: on the Atlantic side of the Talamanca mountain range, in the canton of Talamanca, in the province of Limón, and on the Pacific side of the Talamanca mountain range, in the canton of Buenos Aires, in the province of Puntarenas. It belongs to the Isthmic subgroup, Western Isthmic branch, Viceitic subbranch, of the Chibchan family (Constenla 2008). The existence of three geographical varieties of this language has traditionally been recognized, which are often referred to by the name of one of the towns in each of the three regions: the Bribri of Amubre (Amubre, Katsi, Kachabri, Lari, Urén, Yorkín), the Bribri of Coroma (Coroma, Coén, Sepecue, Wawet, Suretka, Shiroles) and the Bribri of Salitre (Salitre and Cabagra) (Jara and García 2009, Margery 1982). These varieties have also been referred to as those of the eastern part of the canton of Talamanca, the western part of the canton of Talamanca, and the canton of Buenos Aires (Constenla et al. 1998).

According to data from the 2011 National Population Census, the language is spoken by 54.7 per cent of the total population within the Indigenous territories, but the vitality situation varies greatly from one village to another. Following the typology of UNESCO, it can be said that this language is in an unsafe or definitely endangered situation, depending on the region (Sánchez 2009 2013).