Chamicuro language

Chamicuro is an extinct South American language formerly spoken in Peru. The language was used by the Chamicuro people, who number around one hundred people. The Chamicuros currently live on a tributary of the Huallaga river, in Peru, in an area called Pampa Hermosa, though many had been dislocated to the Yavarí and Napo Rivers and to Brazil.[1]

Chamicuro
Chamicolo, Chamicura
Chamekolo
Native toPeru
RegionPampa Hermosa
Ethnicity100 Chamicuro (2015)[1]
Extinctearly 2000s[1]
Arawakan
  • Southern
    • Western
      • Chamicuro
Latin script (alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3ccc
Glottologcham1318
ELPChamicuro

As with all native languages in Peru, Chamicuro was by default an official language in the area in which it was spoken. A dictionary has been published by the Chamicuro, however no children can speak the language as the community has shifted to Spanish.

There is dispute as to whether the unattested language of the Aguano people was the same language as Chamicuro. Loukotka (1968)[2] had identified it with Chamicuro, but the Chamicuro report that the Aguano people spoke Quechua.[3]

Phonology

Chamicuro has five vowels: /a, e, i, o, u/. All vowels have both short and long forms.[4]

Consonants in Chamicuro
Bilabial Alveolar Palato-
alveolar		 Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive p t k ʔ
Affricate t͡s t͡ʃ ʈʂ
Fricative s ʃ ʂ h
Nasal m n ɲ
Lateral l ʎ
Flap ɾ
Semivowel j w

See also

References
For a list of words relating to Chamicuro language, see the Chamicuro language category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
  1. Chamicuro at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) closed access
  2. Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
  3. Wise, 1987
  4. "SAPhon – South American Phonological Inventories". linguistics.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2018-08-17.


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