Chamacoco Language

Chamacoco is a Zamucoan language spoken in Paraguay by the Chamacoco people. It is also known as ''Xamicoco'' or ''Xamacoco'', although the tribe itself prefers the name Ishír, which is also spelled ''Ishiro'' or ''Jewyo''.Chamacoco: Orientation
''Every Culture.'' 2008 (retrieved 29 March 2009) When the term ''Ishiro'' (or ''yshyro'' or ''ɨshɨro'') is used to refer to the language, it is an abbreviation for ''Ishir(o) ahwoso'', literally meaning 'the words, the language of the Chamacoco people'. Ciucci, Luca 2011. L’amico di D’Annunzio e la tribù perduta: in Sudamerica alla ricerca dei confini di Babele. ''Normale. Bollettino dell’associazione normalisti'', 1-2. 23-28. It is spoken by a traditionally hunter-gatherer society that now practices agriculture. Its speakers are of all ages, and generally do not speak Spanish or Guarani well.Gordon, Raymond G., Jr., ed
Chamacoco: A Language of Paraguay
''Ethnologue.'' 2005 (retrieved 29 March 2009)

Classification

Chamacoco is classified as a Zamucoan language, along with Ayoreo. Both languages are considered endangered.Sorosoro: Zamucoan family
. There is relatively little information about the Zamucoan family.

Chamacoco speakers live in the northeastern part of the Chaco Boreal at the origin of the Río Verde in Paraguay. Four dialects of Chamacoco have been identified: Héiwo, in the Fuerte Olimpo area; Ebidóso and Hório, spoken in the Bahía Negra region; and Tomaráho, in the Alto Paraná Atlantic forests.

The speakers of Hório and Ebidóso were estimated to be 800 in 1970. Fewer than 200 people spoke Tomaráho then. Back in 1930, over 2000 people were estimated to speak Chamacoco.

Verb inflection is based on personal prefixes and the language is tenseless.Ciucci, Luca 2009. ''Elementi di morfologia verbale del chamacoco''. Quaderni del Laboratorio di Linguistica della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, n.s. 8

For example, ''chɨpɨrme teu dosh'' means "the kingfisher eats fish", while ''chɨpɨra teu wichɨ dosht'' means "the kingfisher will eat fish." Nouns can be divided into possessable and non-possessable. Possessable nouns are characterized by a prefixation whereby the noun agrees with the possessor or genitival modifier.Ciucci, Luca 2010. ''La flessione possessiva del chamacoco''. Quaderni del Laboratorio di Linguistica della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, n.s. 9,2

There is no difference between nouns and adjectives in suffixation.Ciucci, Luca 2013. ''Chamacoco lexicographical supplement''. Quaderni del Laboratorio di Linguistica della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, n.s. 12

The syntax is characterized by the presence of para-hypotactical structures. Bertinetto, Pier Marco & Luca Ciucci 2012. ''Parataxis, Hypotaxis and Para-Hypotaxis in the Zamucoan Languages''. In: Linguistic Discovery 10.1: 89-111

/ref> The comparison of inflectional morphology has shown remarkable similarities with Ayoreo and Ancient Zamuco. Ciucci, Luca 2013. ''Inflectional morphology in the Zamucoan languages''. Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. Ph.D. thesis.

Chamacoco Talking Dictionary
was produced b
Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages

Phonology

Vowels

All vowels except for /ɑ, ə/ have nasalized forms.

Consonants

Sample words and phrases

* ''matah debich'' ( International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: a debitʃ) – finger
* ''aap'' (IPA: ap) – fox/lion cub
* ''tɨkɨn chɨp owa'' (IPA: tɪgɪ ʃebɔa) – thank you very much
* ''ich amatak'' (IPA: ɪdʒ amaɹtɔk) – he eats a lot
* ''ye takmape'' (IPA: je taɣmabe) – he does not eat a lot
* ''tɨkɨya oyetɨke'' (IPA: tɪkija ɔɪhetɪgɪ) – I bought a dog for you
* ''yok'' (IPA: jɔk) – I
* ''ich takaha'' (IPA: i taɣaha) – I go

References

External links

Chamacoco Talking DictionarySorosoro Project
*ELAR archive o
Documentation of the Tomarâho variety of Chamacoco, Paraguay

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamacocco Language
Zamucoan languages
Languages of Paraguay
Chaco linguistic area