List of indigenous languages of Argentina
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List of indigenous languages in Argentina
)
This is a list of indigenous languages that are or were spoken in the present territory of Argentina.
Although the official language of
Guaraní language is official, together with Spanish, in the northeastern Corrientes Province
.
Aboriginal languages in Argentina
|____ Living
| |____ Tupi–Guaraní family
| | |_Guaraní subfamily
| | |___ Subgroup I
| | |___ Paraguayan Guaraní
| | |___ Western Guaraní (Avá Guaraní or "chiriguano")
| | |___ Mbyá Guaraní
| | |___ Chiripá
| | |___ Kaiwá [+]
| | |___ Tapieté
| |____ Guaycuruan family
| | |___ Qom group
| | |___ Mocoví
| | |___ Pilagá
| | |___ Toba
| |____ Mataguayo ("Mataco") family
| | |____Wichí group ("Mataco")
| | | |___ Nocten (Oktenay)
| | | |___ Güisnay (Wenhayéy)
| | | |___ Vejoz (Wehwos)
| | |____Nivaklé group ("Chulupí")
| | | |___ Forest Nivaklé (Yita'a lhavós)
| | | |___ River Nivaklé (Chishamne and Shichaam lhavos)
| | |____Chorote group
| | |___ Jo'wuwa or Iyo'wujwa (Manjui)
| | |___ Yofwaja or Iyojwa'ja (Eklenjui)
| |____ Quechua family
| | |____Quechua II C
| | |___ Southern Bolivian (Kolla)
| | |___ Santiago del Estero Quichua
| |____ Araucanian family
| | |_____________ Mapudungun (Mapuche)
| |____ Isolated and unclassified
| |_____________ Aymara
| |_____________ Yagan, Yámana or Háusi-kúta
|____________ Endangered or nearly extinct
| |____ Lule–Vilela family
| | |_____ Vilela [*]
| |____ Isolated and unclassified
| |_____ Gennaken ("Puelche")
|___ Extinct (an incomplete list)
|____ Arawakan family
| |_____ Chané
|____ Charruan (?)
| |_____ Güenoa
| |_____ Chaná (?)
|____ Guaicuruan family
| |_____ Abipón
| |_____ Mbayá
| |_____ Payaguá
| |_____ Mbeguá (?)
|____ Lule–Vilela family
| |_____ Lule
|____ Chon family
| |_____ Manek'enk or Haush
| |_____ Teushen |
| |_____ Aönikën ("Tehuelche")
| |_____ Śelknam ("Ona")
|____ Isolated and unclassified
|___ Huarpe group
| |___ Allentiac or Alyentiyak
| |___ Millcayac or Milykayak
|_____ Toconoté
|_____ Omaguaca
|_____ Cacán (Diaguita-Calchaquí)
|_____ Kunza, or Likanantaí (Atacameño)
|_____ Henia-camiare or "Comechingon"
|_____ Sanavirón
|_____ Het
[+] Dubious. Fabre states (with convincing arguments) that no Kaiwá live in Argentina. [*] Some authors give this languages as extinct. (?) Tentative classification
Living languages
- Aymara
- Kaiwá)
- Chiriguano
- Chiripá
- Chorote
- Guaraní
- Mapudungun
- Wichí(Wichí Lhamtés)
- Mocoví
- Nivaclé (Chulupi)
- Pilagá
- Quechua
- Tapieté
- Toba Qom
Extinct languages
A large number of languages once spoken in Argentina have disappeared. According to Censabella (1999), two thirds of the languages spoken when the Spaniards arrived became extinct. In some cases, the languages disappeared along with the ethnic groups that spoke them; in other, the acculturation and transculturation phenomena associated with deep changes in the living conditions of the indigenous peoples caused the extinction, even if a number of individuals of the ethnical group still survive.
- . No living speakers of this language are known.
- Jesuit Alonso de Bárcena, but the manuscript is lost.
- Izoceño, became subject as vassals to the Avá Guaraní people, and the language was lost. All surviving Chané individuals speak Western Guaraní.[clarification needed]
- Güenoa (or Wenoa) and Chaná languages, of Charrúan stock, were spoken in today's central-eastern Argentina and Uruguay. Charruan languages became extinct by the beginning of the 19th century west of Uruguay River, and around 1830 in the eastern shores of the same river.
- Lickan-amtay(Atacameño) people. It is almost certainly extinct in Chile too.
- toponymsand plant names) are not enough to establish its genetic relationships, nor to attempt a reconstruction.
- Mapudungun. Its very existence as a unique language (by opposition to a group) is merely speculative.
- Cuyoregion in central-western Argentina. The scarcity of remaining elements prevents accurate classification or reconstruction.
- Jesuit Antonio Machoniin 1732.
- Quechuain the 16th century. No evidence of the language has survived.
- Yaghan, Yámana, Háusi-Kúta or Yagán is a language spoken by indigenous peoples of southern shores and islands of Tierra del Fuego. A very analytical language, it had an extensive vocabulary. In Argentina Yaghan became extinct at the beginning of the 20th century, but lexicons and early recordings remain. It is recognised in a number of well known toponyms as Ushuaia, Lapataia, Tolhuin, etc. Some elder speakers (between 1 and 5) remain in Chile, where the language is nearly extinct.
- Ona
- Puelche
- Tehuelche language
- Vilela language
Other extinct languages are known just by the ethnic group that spoke them, since very scarce (if any) linguistic material remains. Among them: Omaguaca; Sanavirón; several languages probably belonging to the
.See also
References
- Adelaar, Willem F.H. (2004). The languages of the Andes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- Braunstein, José A. (1992-3A). Presentación: esquema provisorio de las tribus chaqueñas. Hacia una Nueva Carta Étnica del Gran Chaco, 4: 1-8. Las Lomitas, Formosa.
- ______ (1992-3B). Presentación. Hacia una Nueva Carta Étnica del Gran Chaco, 5: 1-3. Las Lomitas, Formosa.
- ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
- Censabella, Marisa (1999). Las lenguas indígenas de la Argentina. Una mirada actual. Buenos Aires: Eudeba. ISBN 950-23-0956-1
- Fabre, Alain (1998). Manual de las lenguas indígenas sudamericanas, Vol. II. Munich: Lincom Europa
- Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (Ed.). (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the world (15th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-159-X. (Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com).
- Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American languages. Los Angeles: UCLA
- Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (2005). Encuesta Complementaria de Pueblos Indígenas (ECPI), 2004-2005 - Primeros resultados provisionales. Buenos Aires: INDEC. ISSN 0327-7968.
- Kaufman, Terrence. (1994). The native languages of South America. In C. Mosley & R. E. Asher (Eds.), Atlas of the world's languages (pp. 46–76). London: Routledge.
- Key, Mary R. (1979). The grouping of South American languages. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.
- Martín, Herminia E. and Andrés Pérez Diez (eds.) (1996). Lenguas indígenas de Argentina 1492-1992. San Juan: Universidad Nacional de San Juan.
- Martínez, Angelita (2004). Lenguas amerindias en Argentina. In: Ariadna Lluís i Vidal-Folch & Azucena Palacios Alcaine (eds.), Lenguas vivas en América Latina. Barcelona/ Madrid: Institut Català de Cooperació Iberoamericana/ Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
- Mason, J. Alden. (1950). The languages of South America. In J. Steward (Ed.), Handbook of South American Indians (Vol. 6, pp. 157–317). Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology bulletin (No. 143). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
- Languages spoken in Argentina