Kawésqar (Qawasqar), also known as Alacaluf, is a critically endangered

language isolate Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The nu ...

spoken in southern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

by the

Kawésqar people The Kawésqar, also known as the Alacalufe, Kaweskar, Alacaluf 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 ...

. Originally part of a small family, only the northern language remains. In 2009, only a handful of elderly people spoke the language, most of whom lived on

Wellington Island Wellington Island is an island west of Southern Patagonian Ice Field, Chile. It has an area of 5,556 km2 and most of the island forms part of Bernardo O'Higgins National Park. It is home to the last Kawésqar people, living in the villag ...

off the southwest coast of Chile.

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Alphabet

The alphabet in use has the following letters: a, æ, c, c', e, f, h, i, j, k, k', l, m, n, o, p, p', q, r, rr, s, t, t', u, w, x. However, differences are reported between dialects, and some sounds are not represented.

Morphology and syntax

Kawésqar has a complex system of

grammatical tense In grammar, tense is a category that expresses time reference. Tenses are usually manifested by the use of specific forms of verbs, particularly in their conjugation patterns. The main tenses found in many languages include the past, present ...

, which includes a basic morphological contrast between future, present, immediate past, recent past, distant past, and mythological past events.

Bibliography

* Aguilera Faúndez, Oscar (1978). Léxico Kawesqar-Español, Español-Kawesqar. Boletín de filología (Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras) 29. * Aguilera Faúndez, Óscar (2001): Gramática de la lengua kawésqar. Temuco: Corporación de Desarrollo Indígena. * Clairis, Christos (1987): El qawasqar. Lingüística fueguina. Teoría y descripción. Valdivia: Universidad Austral de Chile nejo de Estudios Filológicos 12 *

Pieter C. Muysken Pieter is a male given name, the Dutch form of Peter. The name has been one of the most common names in the Netherlands for centuries, but since the mid-twentieth century its popularity has dropped steadily, from almost 3000 per year in 1947 ...

. 2004. ''The Languages of the Andes''. Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

References

External links

Qawasqar dictionary online
(select simple or advanced browsing)
KawésqarKawésqar at the World Atlas of Language Structures Online
- including recordings and transcriptions of stories, myths, and conversations in Kawésqar at

AILLA The Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America (AILLA) is a digital repository housed in LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Collections at the University of Texas at Austin. AILLA is a digital language archive dedicated to the digit ...

.
Qawasqar
(

Intercontinental Dictionary Series The Intercontinental Dictionary Series (commonly abbreviated as IDS) is a large database of topical vocabulary lists in various world languages. The general editor of the database is Bernard Comrie of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary A ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kawesqar Language Indigenous languages of the South American Cone Languages of Chile Alacalufan languages Critically endangered languages Endangered Alacalufan languages Fuegian languages Kawésqar