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The Indigenous languages of the Americas are the languages that were used by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas before the arrival of non-Indigenous peoples. Over a thousand of these languages are still used today, while many more are now extinct. The Indigenous languages of the Americas are not all related to each other; instead, they are classified into a hundred or so language families and isolates, as well as a number of extinct languages that are unclassified due to the lack of information on them.
The Iroquoian languages are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking.
Antisuyu was the eastern part of the Inca Empire which bordered on the modern-day Upper Amazon region which the Anti inhabited. Along with Chinchaysuyu, it was part of the Hanan Suyukuna or "upper quarters" of the empire, constituting half of the Tahuantinsuyu, the "four parts bound together" that comprised the empire.
Uncontacted peoples are groups of Indigenous peoples living without sustained contact with neighbouring communities and the world community. Groups who decide to remain uncontacted are referred to as indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation. Legal protections make estimating the total number of uncontacted peoples challenging, but estimates from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in the UN and the nonprofit group Survival International point to between 100 and 200 uncontacted tribes numbering up to 10,000 individuals total. A majority of uncontacted peoples live in South America, particularly northern Brazil, where the Brazilian government and National Geographic estimate between 77 and 84 tribes reside.
The Asháninka or Asháninca are an indigenous people living in the rainforests of Peru and in the State of Acre, Brazil. Their ancestral lands are in the forests of Junín, Pasco, Huánuco and part of Ucayali in Peru.
The Machiguenga are an indigenous people who live in the high jungle, or montaña, area on the eastern slopes of the Andes and in the Amazon Basin jungle regions of southeastern Peru. Their population in 2020 amounted to about 18,000. Formerly they were hunter-gatherer but today the majority are sedentary swidden cultivators. The main crops grown are manioc, maize, and bananas, but today commercial crops such as coffee and cacao are increasingly important. Their main source of protein used to be peccary and monkeys but today fish has become more important as game animals have become increasingly scarce as a consequence of the encroachment from highland immigrants to the area and the exploitation of the Camisea gas finds. The Machiguenga people have a preference for self-sufficiency when it comes to cultivating essential crops, made possible by their generous land allocation per capita, and the lack of conflict in their area.
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.
The Shipibo-Conibo are an indigenous people along the Ucayali River in the Amazon rainforest in Peru. Formerly two groups, they eventually became one tribe through intermarriage and communal rituals and are currently known as the Shipibo-Conibo people.
The Waorani (Huaorani) language, commonly known as Sabela is a vulnerable language isolate spoken by the Waorani people, an indigenous group living in the Amazon rainforest between the Napo and Curaray Rivers in Ecuador. A small number of speakers with so-called uncontacted groups may live in Peru.
Arawakan, also known as Maipurean, is a language family that developed among ancient indigenous peoples in South America. Branches migrated to Central America and the Greater Antilles and Smaller Antilles in the Caribbean and the Atlantic, including what is now the Bahamas. Almost all present-day South American countries are known to have been home to speakers of Arawakan languages, the exceptions being Ecuador, Uruguay, and Chile. Maipurean may be related to other language families in a hypothetical Macro-Arawakan stock.
Yuracaré is an endangered language isolate of central Bolivia in Cochabamba and Beni departments spoken by the Yuracaré people.
The Urarina are an indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon Basin (Loreto) who inhabit the valleys of the Chambira, Urituyacu, and Corrientes Rivers. According to both archaeological and historical sources, they have resided in the Chambira Basin of contemporary northeastern Peru for centuries. The Urarina refer to themselves as Kachá, while ethnologists know them by the ethnonym Urarina.
Asháninka is an Arawakan language spoken by the Asháninka people of Peru and Acre, Brazil. It is largely spoken in the Satipo Province located in the amazon forest. While there are low literacy rates in Asháninka, language use is vibrant among the Asháninka.
Ashéninka is the name that some varieties included in the Ashéninka-Asháninka dialect complex have traditionally received. These varieties belong to the Campan branch of the Arawak family. Ethnologue distinguishes seven languages throughout the whole complex, while Pedrós proposes a division in three languages based on the principle of mutual intelligibility. The varieties included in Ashéninka and Northern Ashé-Ashá have traditionally been called Ashéninka. Glottolog reflects Pedrós’ proposal, although considering the languages proposed by him as groupings of the languages that the Ethnologue distinguishes.
Andoque are an indigenous people in Colombia. They live along the Aduche tributary of the Japurá River. The people refer to themselves as Pʌʌsiʌʌ́ hʌ, meaning ‘People of the Axe’.
Urarina is a language isolate spoken in Peru, specifically in the Loreto Region of Northwest Peru, by the Urarina people. There are around 3,000 speakers in Urarinas District. It uses the Latin script. It is also known as Itucali, Simacu or Shimacu.
Shiwiar, also known as Achuar, Jivaro and Maina, is a Chicham language spoken along the Pastaza and Bobonaza rivers in Ecuador. Shiwiar is one of the thirteen indigenous languages of Ecuador. All of these indigenous languages are endangered.
The Campa (Kampa) or Campan (Kampan) languages, a.k.a. Pre-Andine Maipurean / Arawakan, are closely related Arawakan languages of the Peruvian Amazon.
Nihali, also known as Nahali or erroneously as Kalto, is an endangered language isolate that is spoken in west-central India, with approximately 2,000 people in 1991 out of an ethnic population of 5,000. The Nihali tribal area is just south of the Tapti River, around the village of Tembi in Burhanpur district of Madhya Pradesh. Speakers of the Nihali language are also present in several villages of the Buldhana district in Maharashtra such as Jamod, Sonbardi, Kuvardev, Chalthana, Ambavara, Wasali, and Cicari. There are dialectal differences between the Kuvardev-Chalthana and the Jamod-Sonbardi varieties.
The indigenous languages of South America are those whose origin dates back to the pre-Columbian era. The subcontinent has great linguistic diversity, but, as the number of speakers of indigenous languages is diminishing, it is estimated that it could become one of the least linguistically diverse regions of the planet.
References
- 1 2 Crevels, Mily (2012). "Language endangerment in South America: The clock is ticking". In Campbell, Lyle; Grondona, Verónica (eds.). The Indigenous Languages of South America: A Comprehensive Guide. Walter de Gruyter. p. 214. doi:10.1515/9783110258035. hdl:1887/70116. ISBN 978-3-11-025803-5.
- ↑ Montoya Terrones, Fabián (2002). Naciones amazónicas. Lima, Peru: Editorial San Marcos. OCLC 51830202.
- ↑ Olson, James Stuart (1991). "Caquinte". The Indians of Central and South America: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-313-26387-3.
