Alacalufan languages

Last updated
Alacalufan
Kawesqaran
Ethnicity Alacaluf people
Geographic
distribution
Chile
Linguistic classification One of the world's primary language families
Subdivisions
  • Kawesqar
  • Central Alacaluf †
  • Southern Alacaluf †
ISO 639-5 aqa
Glottolog kawe1237

The Alacalufan languages or Kawesqaran languages are a small language family of South America. They have not been definitely linked to any other American language family. [1] [2]

Contents

Languages

Early vocabularies show that Alakaluf was three languages, with an extinct Southern Alakaluf (vocabularies in Fitz-Roy 1839 and Hyades & Deniker 1891) and Central Alakaluf (vocabularies in Borgatello 1928, Marcel 1892, and Skottsberg 1913) in addition to the critically endangered northern variety, Kawésqar. [3]

Based on alleged toponymic evidence, a purported Kakauhua language has sometimes been included in the Alacalufan family.

Guaicaro may have been a dialect of Central Alakaluf or Kawesqar.

Mason (1950)

Mason (1950) lists: [4]

Chono, Caraica (Karaika), and Poya may also belong.

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items. [5]

glossNorthern AlcalufSouthern AlcalufKaueskar
tonguelekélpaileafkalaktás
handpalkáryukebeterwá
waterkarkasaarrétchfalai
moondzyakapésyakapechkapánuk
dogsalkishalkikyurro
fishxawoelorolkeuwako
canoepelercherrukaief

Related Research Articles

Choco languages Language family of Colombia and Panama

The Choco languages are a small family of Native American languages spread across Colombia and Panama.

Arawan languages Language family of South America

Arawan is a family of languages spoken in western Brazil and Peru (Ucayali).

The Araucanian languages are a small language family of indigenous languages of the Americas spoken in central Chile and neighboring areas of Argentina. The living representatives of this family are Mapudungun and Huilliche, spoken respectively by the Mapuche and Huilliche people. These are sometimes considered divergent dialects of a single language isolate.

Maxakalían languages Language family of eastern Brazil

The Maxakalían languages were first classified into the Jê languages. It was only in 1931 that Čestmír Loukotka separated them from the Jê family. Alfred Métraux and Curt Nimuendajú considered the Maxakalían family isolated from others. John Alden Mason suggests a connection with the Macro-Jê stock, confirmed by Aryon Rodrigues.

Tacanan languages Language family of Bolivia

Tacanan is a family of languages spoken in Bolivia, with Ese’ejja also spoken in Peru. It may be related to the Panoan languages. Many of the languages are endangered.

Chicham languages Language family spoken in Peru and Ecuador

The Chicham languages, also known as Jivaroan is a small language family of northern Peru and eastern Ecuador.

Boran is a small language family, consisting of just two languages.

Matacoan is a language family of northern Argentina, western Paraguay, and southeastern Bolivia.

Guaicuruan is a language family spoken in northern Argentina, western Paraguay, and Brazil. The speakers of the languages are often collectively called the Guaycuru peoples. For the most part, the Guaycuruans lived in the Gran Chaco and were nomadic and warlike, until finally subdued by the various countries of the region in the 19th century.

Zaparoan languages Endangered language family of Amazon Basin

Zaparoan is an endangered language family of Peru and Ecuador with fewer than 100 speakers. Zaparoan speakers seem to have been very numerous before the arrival of the Europeans. However, their groups have been decimated by imported diseases and warfare, and only a handful of them have survived.

Cueva is a poorly attested and often misclassified extinct indigenous language of Panama. The Cueva people were exterminated between 1510 and 1535 during Spanish colonization. During the 17th and 18th centuries the Kuna repopulated the Cueva area.

Yuracaré is an endangered language isolate of central Bolivia in Cochabamba and Beni departments spoken by the Yuracaré people.

Zamucoan is a small language family of Paraguay and Bolivia.

Chimuan or Yuncan is a hypothetical small extinct language family of northern Peru and Ecuador.

Katukinan (Catuquinan) is a language family consisting of two languages in Brazil, Katukina-Kanamarí and the perhaps moribund Katawixi. It is often not clear which names in the literature, which are generally tribal names and often correspond to dialects, refer to distinct languages. Indeed, they're close enough that some consider them all to be dialects of a single language, Kanamari.

Jirajaran languages Language family of western Venezuela

The Jirajaran languages are group of extinct languages once spoken in western Venezuela in the regions of Falcón and Lara. All of the Jirajaran languages appear to have become extinct in the early 20th century.

Witotoan is a small language family of southwestern Colombia and the neighbouring region of Peru.

Nambikwaran languages Language family of Brazil

The Nambikwaran languages are a language family of half a dozen languages, all spoken in the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil. They have traditionally been considered dialects of a single language, but at least three of them are mutually unintelligible.

Warao language Language of the Warao people

Warao is the native language of the Warao people. A language isolate, it is spoken by about 33,000 people primarily in northern Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname. It is notable for its unusual object–subject–verb word order. The 2015 Venezuelan film Gone with the River was spoken in Warao.

Esmeralda, or Esmeraldeño, is an extinct language isolate formerly spoken in the coastal region of Ecuador, specifically in the western part of Esmeraldas Province. The only existing data for Atacame was collected by J.M. Pallares in 1877.

References

  1. Campbell, L. (1997). American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics 4. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  2. Adelaar, W. F. H., & Muysken, P. C. (2004). The Languages of the Andes. Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  3. Viegas Barros (1990, 2005), cited in Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices
  4. Mason, John Alden (1950). "The languages of South America". In Steward, Julian (ed.). Handbook of South American Indians. 6. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143. pp. 157–317.
  5. Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages . Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.