Kunza (Kunza: Likanantaí) is a mostly extinct language isolate spoken in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile and southern Peru by the Atacama people, who have since shifted to Spanish. The last speaker was documented in 1949; however, it has since been learned that the language is still spoken in the desert.
Other names and spellings include Cunza, Ckunsa, Likanantaí, Lipe, Ulipe, and Atacameño. The word Ckunsa means 'our' in Kunza.
History
The language was spoken in northern Chile, specifically in the Chilean villages of Peine, Socaire (near the Salar de Atacama), and Caspana, and in southern Peru.
The last Kunza speaker was found in 1949, although there are reports of some having been found in 1953 according to anthropologists.3 There are 2,000 Atacameños (W. Adelaar).
Unattested varieties listed by Loukotka (1968):
- Atacameño of Bolivia – spoken in a small village on the frontier of Potosí Department, Bolivia, and Antofagasta Province of Chile
- Lipe (Olipe) – extinct language once spoken south of the Salar de Uyuni, Potosí Department, Bolivia
A revitalization effort was initiated in the 21st century.4
Classification
Further information: Macro-Paesan languages
Kaufman (1990) found a proposed connection between Kunza and the likewise unclassified Kapixaná to be plausible; however, the language was more fully described in 2004, and the general consensus among linguists was that both languages are isolates.
Language contact
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Mochika, Kandoshi, Jaqi, Kechua, Mapudungun, and Uru-Chipaya language families due to contact.5
Phonology
Consonants6| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | sibilant | |||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ||||||
| Stop/Affricate | voiceless | p | t | t͡s | t͡ʃ | k | q | ʔ |
| ejective | pʼ | tʼ | t͡ʃʼ | kʼ | qʼ | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | ɬ | s | x | χ | h | ||
| voiced | β | ɣ | ||||||
| Approximant | l | j | w | |||||
| Trill | r | |||||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Mid | e eː | (ə) | o oː |
| Open | a aː |
See also
External links
- Kunza Swadesh vocabulary list (from Wiktionary's Swadesh list appendix)
- Spanish-Kunza dictionary online
- Bibliography about Kunza
- Alain Fabre, 2005, Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: KUNZA[1]
- Kunza (Intercontinental Dictionary Series)
References
Bartlett, John (October 17, 2024). "In Chile a language on the verge of extinction, stirs into life". NPR. https://www.npr.org/2024/10/14/nx-s1-5148780/chile-lost-language-atacama-desert ↩
Vaïsse, Emilio F (1896). Glosario de la Lengua Atacameña (PDF). Santiago: Imprenta Cervantes. https://www.investigacion.patrimoniocultural.gob.cl/sites/www.investigacion.patrimoniocultural.gob.cl/files/2022-01/Recurso%204%20-%20Glosario%20de%20la%20lengua%20Atacame%C3%B1a.pdf ↩
Miyaoka, Osahito; Sakiyama, Osamu; Krauss, Michael E., eds. (2007). The vanishing languages of the Pacific rim. Oxford linguistics. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 196–197. ISBN 978-0-19-926662-3. OCLC 71004259. 978-0-19-926662-3 ↩
Bartlett, John; Dixon, Greg (2024-05-17). "Saving a Language in Chile". State of the World. NPR. Retrieved 2024-05-18. https://www.npr.org/2024/05/17/1196981058/saving-a-language-in-chile ↩
Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília. http://www.etnolinguistica.org/tese:jolkesky-2016-arqueoecolinguistica ↩
Adelaar, Willem; Muysken, Pieter (2004). The Languages of the Andes. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 380. ↩
Adelaar, Willem; Muysken, Pieter (2004). The Languages of the Andes. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 380. ↩