The Alacalufan languages or Kawesqaran languages are a small
language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics ...
of
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
. They have not been definitely linked to any other American language family.
Languages
Early vocabularies show that Alakaluf was three languages, with an extinct Southern Alakaluf (vocabularies in Fitz-Roy 1839 and Hyades & Deniker 1891) and Central Alakaluf (vocabularies in Borgatello 1928, Marcel 1892, and Skottsberg 1913) in addition to the critically endangered northern variety,
Kawésqar
The Kawésqar, also known as the Kaweskar, Alacaluf, Alacalufe or Halakwulup, are an Indigenous people who live in Chilean Patagonia, specifically in the Brunswick Peninsula, and Wellington, Santa Inés, and Desolación islands northwest of t ...
.
[Viegas Barros (1990, 2005), cited in Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices]
Based on alleged toponymic evidence, a purported
Kakauhua language has sometimes been included in the Alacalufan family.
Guaicaro may have been a dialect of Central Alakaluf or Kawesqar.
Mason (1950)
Mason (1950) lists:
*Caucawe (Kaukahue, etc.)
*Enoo (Peshera)
*Lecheyel
*Yekinawe (Yequinahuere, etc.)
*Adwipliin
*Alikulip, Alakaluf, etc.
*Calen
*Taijatof
Chono, Caraica (Karaika), and Poya may also belong.
Vocabulary
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for the "Aksanas" and "Alacaluf" languages.
:
References
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Language families
Languages of Chile