The Mascoian languages, also known as Enlhet–Enenlhet, Lengua–Mascoy, or Chaco languages, are a small, closely related language family of
Paraguay
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
.
Languages
The languages are:
[Unruh, Ernesto; Kalisch, Hannes. 2003. "Enlhet-Enenlhet. Una familia lingüÃstica chaqueña." Thule, ''Rivista italiana di studi americanistici'' 14/15: 207–23]
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* Maskoy language, Maskoy (Toba-Maskoy)
*Enxet
The Enxet are an indigenous people of about 17,000 living in the Gran Chaco region of western Paraguay. Originally hunter-gatherers, many are now forced to supplement their livelihood as laborers on the cattle ranches that have encroached upon ...
(Southern Lengua)
*Enlhet
Enlhet (Eenlhit), or Northern Lengua, is a language of the Paraguayan Chaco, spoken by the northern Enxet people. It is also known as ''Vowak'' and ''Powok''.
In Filadelfia (Paraguayan Chaco) there is an organization that advocates for Enlhet l ...
(Northern Lengua)
* Kaskihá (Guaná)
*Sanapaná
The Sanapana are one of many nomadic tribes inhabiting the lower Gran Chaco of western Paraguay. With the introduction of Mennonite settlements in the central Chaco in the 1930s, many nomadic tribes semi-settled near the Mennonites. The Mennonite ...
* Angaité
Two spurious languages have been claimed in the literature, ''Emok'' and ''Maskoy Pidgin''.
Jolkesky (2016)
Internal classification by Jolkesky (2016):[Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho De Valhery. 2016. ]
Estudo arqueo-ecolinguÃstico das terras tropicais sul-americanas
'. Ph.D. dissertation, University of BrasÃlia
A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
.
( = extinct)
* Lengua-Maskoy
** Lengua: ''Enlhet
Enlhet (Eenlhit), or Northern Lengua, is a language of the Paraguayan Chaco, spoken by the northern Enxet people. It is also known as ''Vowak'' and ''Powok''.
In Filadelfia (Paraguayan Chaco) there is an organization that advocates for Enlhet l ...
''; ''Enxet
The Enxet are an indigenous people of about 17,000 living in the Gran Chaco region of western Paraguay. Originally hunter-gatherers, many are now forced to supplement their livelihood as laborers on the cattle ranches that have encroached upon ...
''
** Maskoy
*** Maskoy, Southern: '' Angaite''; '' Sanapana''
*** Maskoy, Northern: '' Kaskiha''; '' Maskoy language, Maskoy''
Vocabulary
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.
References
*Alain Fabre, 2005, ''Los pueblos del Gran Chaco y sus lenguas, primera parte: los enlhet-enenlhet del Chaco Paraguayo.
{{South American languages
Mascoian languages,
Mataco–Guaicuru languages
Indigenous languages of the South American Chaco
Languages of Paraguay
Language families
Chaco linguistic area