Kawésqar language
Kawésqar | |
---|---|
Alacaluf | |
Kawésqar, Qawasqar | |
Native to | Chile |
Region | Channel Region, western Patagonia, Wellington Island off south Chilean coast, 49° south, with centre in Puerto Edén. |
Ethnicity | 2,600 Alacaluf people (2002 census)[1] |
Native speakers | 10 (2019)[2] |
Language family | Alacalufan
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | alc |
Glottolog | qawa1238 |
ELP | Kawésqar |
Kawésqar is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. |
Kawésqar (Qawasqar), also known as Alacaluf,[3] is a critically endangered Alacalufan language spoken in southern Chile by the Kawésqar people. Originally part of a small family,[4] only the northern language remains. In 2009, only a handful of elderly people spoke the language, most of whom lived on Wellington Island off the southwest coast of Chile.[2]
Phonology
Vowels
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |
Mid | e | o | |
Open | æ | a |
Consonants
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||||
Plosive | Plain | p | t | t͡ɕ | k | q | ʔ |
Ejective | pʼ | tʼ | t͡ɕʼ | kʼ | |||
Fricative | f | s | x | h | |||
Tap / flap | ɾ | ||||||
Trill | r | ||||||
Approximant | w | l | j |
Alphabet
The alphabet in use has the following letters: a, æ, c, cꞌ, e, f, h, i, j, k, kꞌ, l, m, n, o, p, pꞌ, q, r, rr, s, t, tꞌ, u, w, x. However, differences are reported between dialects, and some sounds are not represented.
Morphology and syntax
Kawésqar has a complex system of grammatical tense, which includes a basic morphological contrast between future, present, immediate past, recent past, distant past, and mythological past events.
See also
- Alacalufe people
- List of endangered languages in South America
- "Chichili" Love song in Kawésqar
Bibliography
- Aguilera Faúndez, Oscar (1978). Léxico Kawesqar-Español, Español-Kawesqar. Boletín de filología (Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras) 29.
- Aguilera Faúndez, Óscar (2001): Gramática de la lengua kawésqar. Temuco: Corporación de Desarrollo Indígena.
- Clairis, Christos (1987): El qawasqar. Lingüística fueguina. Teoría y descripción. Valdivia: Universidad Austral de Chile [Anejo de Estudios Filológicos 12].
- Adelaar, Willem & Muysken, Pieter C. 2004. The Languages of the Andes. Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
References
- ^ Kawésqar language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ a b "Kawésqar". www.endangeredlanguages.com. Archived from the original on 2016-09-08. Retrieved 2017-01-24.
- ^ Spelling variants include Kaweskar, Kawaskar, Qawashqar, Kaueskar and Alakaluf, Halakwulup, Halakwalip; other names include Tawókser, Aksanás/Aksana and Hekaine.
- ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forke, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2020). "Qawasqar". Glottolog 4.3. Archived from the original on 2020-07-18. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
External links
- Qawasqar dictionary online (select simple or advanced browsing)
- Alfabeto Kawésqar
- Kawésqar
- SerIndigena - Territorio Kawesqar
- Kawésqar at the World Atlas of Language Structures Online
- Chilean Languages Collection of Oscar Aguilera and José Tonko - including recordings and transcriptions of stories, myths, and conversations in Kawésqar at AILLA.
- Qawasqar (Intercontinental Dictionary Series)
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- Families with question marks (?) are disputed or controversial.
- Families in italics have no living members.
- Families with more than 30 languages are in bold.