The Chaná language ( 'speak' or 'language'; from , "tongue" and a communicative suffix)
is one of the
Charruan languages, spoken by the
Chaná people in what is now
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
and
Uruguay
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
along the
Uruguay
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
and
Paraná River
The Paraná River ( ; ; ) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. ...
s on the margins of the
Río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata (; ), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda, Colonia, Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and ...
. It was spoken by the
Chaná from pre-Columbian times in the vast region that today is between
Entre Ríos Province
Entre Ríos (, "Between Rivers") is a Center Region, Argentina, central provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia, Argentina, Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires (so ...
,
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
and
Uruguay
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
, and the
Uruguay
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
and
Paraná Guazú Rivers. According to recent oral memory narratives, in ancient times, they inhabited territories around the current
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
ian margin of the
Uruguay River
The Uruguay River ( ; ) is a major river in South America. It flows from north to south and forms parts of the boundaries of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, separating some of the Argentine provinces of La Mesopotamia from the other two countr ...
. They later migrated from this location along the Uruguay and
Paraná Rivers from the outfall of the
Iguazú River and from the
Paraguay River
The Paraguay River (''Ysyry Paraguái'' in Guarani language, Guarani, ''Rio Paraguai'' in Portuguese language, Portuguese, ''Río Paraguay'' in Spanish language, Spanish) is a major river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Bol ...
to the current location of
Asunción
Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...
. Today, there is only one person who can speak Chaná, Blas Wilfredo Omar Jaime, and prior to his discovery of the fact that he was the last speaker, he had not used Chaná for many decades, eroding his memory of the language. UNESCO recognizes it as a
living language
A modern language is any human language that is currently in use as a native language. The term is used in language education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication (such as French and German) and dead cla ...
but also as ''"extremely endangered"'' because it has only one native speaker. The
Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...
of the
Entre Ríos Province
Entre Ríos (, "Between Rivers") is a Center Region, Argentina, central provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia, Argentina, Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires (so ...
recently recognized the necessity for the government to recognize and protect the language.
Blas Wilfredo Omar Jaime

Blas Wilfredo Omar Jaime (, 'dog without owner';
Nogoyá
Nogoyá () is a city in the provinces of Argentina, province of Entre Ríos Province, Entre Ríos, Argentina. It has 22,824 inhabitants per the and is the head town of the Nogoyá Department. It lies in the province's southwest, by the Nogoyá St ...
,
Entre Rios, ), an
Argentine
Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...
, is the only native speaker of Chaná. He is now referred to as Tató Oyendén, or custodian of the ancestral memory.
The language, which Blas learned from his female ancestors, considered unique by academics, was considered
extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
before he was interviewed by the linguist
José Pedro Viegas Barros. The two men together authored the book ''
La Lengua Chaná. Patrimonio Cultural de Entre Ríos'' published by the official communications department of the provincial government of Entre Ríos. The department published the book in recognition of "Lanték" (the Chaná language) to support the cultural heritage of the province.
Phonology
The following are the phonemes of the Chaná language:
Dictionary
has been recognized as a part of the "Cultural Heritage of the Entre Ríos Province." The
first dictionary of the language was published by the
Provincial Publishing House of Entre Ríos. The publication contained a dictionary compiled via Don Blas Wilfredo Omar Jaime and an encyclopedic study of Chaná culture. There were also several chapters on the linguistics of Chaná by Viegas Barros.
The Chaná cultural study encompassed the fourth and last section of the book. A great deal of Chaná ethnoliterature was obtained during elicitation sessions with Viegas Barros during the seven years prior to the publication of the volume. It also has an audio CD which includes recordings of Don Blas speaking his ''Lanték''.
References
Bibliography
*
External links
La guarda memoria(in Spanish)
The Memory Keeper(English translation of audio transcript): an episode on the Chaná language featured on the podcast
Radio Ambulante.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chana Language
Charruan languages
Languages of Uruguay
Indigenous languages of the South American Cone
Chaco linguistic area