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Chipaya language

{{Short description|Uru–Chipaya language of Bolivia}}

{{More footnotes needed|date=May 2025}}

{{Infobox language

| name = Chipaya

| nativename = Chipay taqu

| region = Oruro Department

| speakers = 1,800

| date = 2012

| ref = e25

| familycolor = American

| fam1 = Uru–Chipaya

| iso3 = cap

| glotto = chip1262

| glottorefname = Chipaya

| notice = IPA

| states = Bolivia

}}

Chipaya{{refn|Also Achipaye.{{cite book |last1=Clark |first1=Patricia Roberts |title=Tribal Names of the Americas: Spelling Variants and Alternative Forms, Cross-Referenced |date=21 October 2009 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-5169-2 |page=11 |language=en}}}} (endolinguonym Chipay taqu) is a native South American language of the Uru–Chipaya language family. The only other language in the grouping, Uru, is considered by some to be a divergent dialect of Chipaya. Ethnologue lists the language vitality as "vigorous," with 1,800 speakers out of an ethnic population of around {{sigfig|2,130|2}}, although younger generations speak it progressively less. Chipaya has been influenced considerably by Aymara, the Quechuan languages, and more recently, Spanish, with a third of its vocabulary having been replaced by those languages.

Geographical distribution

The Chipayan language is spoken in the area south of Lake Titicaca along the Desaguadero River in the mountains of Bolivia and mainly in the town of Chipaya located in the Sabaya Province of the Bolivian department of Oruro north of Coipasa Salt Flats. Native speakers generally refer to it as Chipay taqu or Puquina or Uchun Maa Taqu ("our mother language"), but is not the same as, nor in fact even related to, the extinct Puquina language.

Phonology

=Consonants=

class="wikitable"
align="center"

! rowspan=2 colspan=2|  

! rowspan=2 | Labial

! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |Dental/
Alveolar

! rowspan="2" |Retroflex

! rowspan=2 | Post-alv./
Palatal

! colspan=2 | Velar

! colspan=2 | Uvular

align="center"

! plain

! labialized

! plain

! labialized

align="center"

! colspan="2" | Nasal

|   m  {{IPA|/m/}}

| colspan="2" |  n  {{IPA|/n/}}

| 

|   ň  {{IPA|/ɲ/}}

|   ŋ  {{IPA|/ŋ/}}

|  

|  

|  

align="center"

! rowspan="3" | Plosive

! plain

|   p  {{IPA|/p/}}

| colspan="2" |  t  {{IPA|/t/}}

| 

|  

|   k  {{IPA|/k/}}

|   kʷ  {{IPA|/kʷ/}}

|   q  {{IPA|/q/}}

|   qʷ  {{IPA|/qʷ/}}

align="center"

!aspirated

|   ph  {{IPA|/pʰ/}}

| colspan="2" |  th  {{IPA|/tʰ/}}

| 

|  

|   kh  {{IPA|/kʰ/}}

|  

|   qh  {{IPA|/qʰ/}}

|  

align="center"

! ejective

|   p'  {{IPA|/pʼ/}}

| colspan="2" |  t'  {{IPA|/tʼ/}}

| 

|  

|   k'  {{IPA|/kʼ/}}

|  

|   q'  {{IPA|/qʼ/}}

|  

align="center"

! rowspan="3" | Affricate

! plain

|  

| colspan="2" |  ¢  {{IPA|/ts/}}

|  ĉ  {{IPA|/tʂ/}}

|   č  {{IPA|/tʃ/}}

|  

|  

|  

|  

align="center"

!aspirated

|  

| colspan="2" |  ¢h  {{IPA|/tsʰ/}}

|  ĉh  {{IPA|/tʂʰ/}}

|   čh  {{IPA|/tʃʰ/}}

|  

|  

|  

|  

align="center"

! ejective

|  

| colspan="2" |  ¢'  {{IPA|/tsʼ/}}

|  ĉ'  {{IPA|/tʂʼ/}}

|   č'  {{IPA|/tʃʼ/}}

|  

|  

|  

|  

align="center"

! colspan="2" | Fricative

|  

|  z  {{IPA|/s̪/}}

|   s  {{IPA|/s/}}

|  ŝ  {{IPA|/ʂ/}}

|  

|   h  {{IPA|/x/}}

|   hʷ  {{IPA|/xʷ/}}

|   x  {{IPA|/χ/}}

|   xʷ  {{IPA|/χʷ/}}

align="center"

! colspan="2" |Rhotic

|  

| colspan="2" |  r  {{IPA|/r/}}

| 

|  

|  

|  

|  

|  

align="center"

! rowspan="2" |Lateral

!central

|  

| colspan="2" |  l  {{IPA|/l/}}

| 

|   ll  {{IPA|/ʎ/}}

|  

|  

|  

|  

align="center"

!fricative

|  

| colspan="2" |  lj  {{IPA|/ɬ/}}

|  

|  

|  

|  

|  

|  

align="center"

! colspan="2" | Approximant

|  

| colspan="2" | 

| 

|   y  {{IPA|/j/}}

|  

|   w  {{IPA|/w/}}

|  

|  

=Consonant clusters=

Multiple possibilities are separated by slashes, and optional elements are enclosed in parentheses.

Possible syllable onsets are:

  • (s/ŝ) + p + (h)
  • (s/ŝ/sh) + k/q + (h/hʷ/x/xʷ)
  • s/ŝ + p/k/kʷ/q/qʷ/h/hʷ/m/n
  • t + h/hʷ/x/xʷ
  • ¢/ĉ/č/l + h

Possible syllable codas are:

  • h/x + p/t/k/q/l/ll/r + (t)
  • hʷ/xʷ + k/q + (t)
  • Consonant + t

=Vowels=

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!

!Front

!Central

!Back

High

|i  {{IPA|/i/}}

| 

|u  {{IPA|/u/}}

Mid

|e  {{IPA|/e/}}

| 

|o  {{IPA|/o/}}

Low

| 

|a  {{IPA|/a/}}

| 

  • Each vowel can be short, e.g., a {{IPA|[a]}}, or long, e.g., a• {{IPA|[aː]}}.{{Cite book |last=Cerrón-Palomino |first=Rodolfo |title=El Chipaya o Lengua de los Hombres del Agua |publisher=Lima: Fondo Editorial, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú |year=2006}}

Grammar

Chipaya is an agglutinative language, though it has features uncommon to most agglutinative languages, according to preliminary research by the organization DOBES.

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [http://www.mpi.nl/DOBES/projects/chipaya DOBES - Chipaya Language]
  • [http://dobes.mpi.nl/projects/uru-chipaya DOBES - Uru-Chipaya]
  • [http://celia.cnrs.fr/FichExt/Fonds_Liliane/pres_fonds.htm Lilian Porterie Etudes, Audios and Transcriptions of the Chipaya Language]
  • [https://ids.clld.org/contributions/270 Chipaya] (Intercontinental Dictionary Series)

{{Languages of Bolivia}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chipaya Language}}

Category:Indigenous languages of the Andes

Category:Languages of Bolivia

Category:Uru–Chipaya languages