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Kawésqar language

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(Redirected from Kawesqar languages) Endangered Alacalufan language of Chile
Kawésqar
Alacaluf
Kawésqar, Qawasqar
Native toChile
RegionChannel Region, western Patagonia, Wellington Island off south Chilean coast, 49° south, with centre in Puerto Edén.
Ethnicity2,600 Alacaluf people (2002 census)
Native speakers10 (2019)
Language familyAlacalufan
  • Kawésqar
Language codes
ISO 639-3alc
Glottologqawa1238
ELPKawésqar
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, is a critically endangered Alacalufan language spoken in southern Chile by the Kawésqar people. Originally part of a small family, 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.

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

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 .
  • Adelaar, Willem & Muysken, Pieter C. 2004. The Languages of the Andes. Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

References

  1. Kawésqar language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ "Kawésqar". www.endangeredlanguages.com. Archived from the original on 2016-09-08. Retrieved 2017-01-24.
  3. Spelling variants include Kaweskar, Kawaskar, Qawashqar, Kaueskar and Alakaluf, Halakwulup, Halakwalip; other names include Tawókser, Aksanás/Aksana and Hekaine.
  4. 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

Primary language families
Africa
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South
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(extant in 2000)
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See also
  • Families with question marks (?) are disputed or controversial.
  • Families in italics have no living members.
  • Families with more than 30 languages are in bold.
Languages of Chile
Lingua franca
Living Indigenous languages
Extinct and endangered languages
Sign languages
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Italics indicate extinct languages
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