Kunza language
{{Short description|Extinct language of Chile and Peru}}
{{Expand language|topic=|langcode=es|otherarticle=Kunza|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Kunza
| altname = Atacameño, Ckunsa
| nativename = {{lang|kuz|Likanantaí}}, {{lang|kuz|Ckunsa}}
| states = Chile, Peru, Bolivia
| ethnicity = 2,000 Atacama
| extinct = {{circa|1950s}}
| familycolor = American
| family = Language isolate
| iso3 = kuz
| glotto = kunz1244
| glottorefname = Kunza
| region = Atacama Desert
| revived = 2020s
| map2 = Lang Status 01-EX.svg
| mapcaption2 = {{center|{{small|Atacameño is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger}}}}
| map = Kunza language map.svg
| mapcaption = Map of the Kunza language
}}
Kunza ({{langx|kuz|Likanantaí|links=no}}) is a mostly extinct language isolate spoken in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile and southern Peru by the Atacama people, who have since shifted to Spanish. The last speaker was documented in 1949; however, it has since been learned that the language is still spoken in the desert.{{Cite web |last=Bartlett |first=John |date=October 17, 2024 |title=In Chile a language on the verge of extinction, stirs into life |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/10/14/nx-s1-5148780/chile-lost-language-atacama-desert |website=NPR}}
Other names and spellings include Cunza, Ckunsa, {{lang|kuz|Likanantaí|italic=no}}, Lipe, Ulipe, and Atacameño. The word {{Lang|kuz|Ckunsa}} means 'our' in Kunza.{{Cite book |last=Vaïsse |first=Emilio F |url=https://www.investigacion.patrimoniocultural.gob.cl/sites/www.investigacion.patrimoniocultural.gob.cl/files/2022-01/Recurso%204%20-%20Glosario%20de%20la%20lengua%20Atacame%C3%B1a.pdf |title=Glosario de la Lengua Atacameña |date=1896 |publisher=Imprenta Cervantes |location=Santiago}}
History
The language was spoken in northern Chile, specifically in the Chilean villages of Peine, Socaire (near the Salar de Atacama), and Caspana, and in southern Peru.
The last Kunza speaker was found in 1949, although there are reports of some having been found in 1953 according to anthropologists.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/ocm71004259 |title=The vanishing languages of the Pacific rim |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-926662-3 |editor-last=Miyaoka |editor-first=Osahito |series=Oxford linguistics |location=Oxford ; New York |pages=196-197 |oclc=ocm71004259 |editor-last2=Sakiyama |editor-first2=Osamu |editor-last3=Krauss |editor-first3=Michael E.}} There are 2,000 Atacameños (W. Adelaar).
Unattested varieties listed by Loukotka (1968):
- Atacameño of Bolivia – spoken in a small village on the frontier of Potosí Department, Bolivia, and Antofagasta Province of Chile
- Lipe (Olipe) – extinct language once spoken south of the Salar de Uyuni, Potosí Department, Bolivia
A revitalization effort was initiated in the 21st century.{{Cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/05/17/1196981058/saving-a-language-in-chile |title=Saving a Language in Chile |first1=John |last1=Bartlett |first2=Greg |last2=Dixon |website=NPR |department=State of the World |language=en-US |date=2024-05-17 |accessdate=2024-05-18}}
Classification
{{further|Macro-Paesan languages}}
Kaufman (1990) found a proposed connection between Kunza and the likewise unclassified Kapixaná to be plausible; however, the language was more fully described in 2004, and the general consensus among linguists was that both languages are isolates.{{fact|date=May 2022}}
Language contact
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Mochika, Kandoshi, Jaqi, Kechua, Mapudungun, and Uru-Chipaya language families due to contact.{{cite thesis|last=Jolkesky |first=Marcelo Pinho de Valhery |date=2016 |url=http://www.etnolinguistica.org/tese:jolkesky-2016-arqueoecolinguistica |title=Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas |type=Ph.D. dissertation |location=Brasília |publisher=University of Brasília |edition=2}}
Phonology
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | ! rowspan="2" |Bilabial ! colspan="2" |Alveolar ! rowspan="2" |Palatal ! rowspan="2" |Velar ! rowspan="2" |Uvular ! rowspan="2" |Glottal |
| plain
!{{small|sibilant}} |
|---|
| colspan="2" |Nasal
|{{IPA link|m}} |{{IPA link|n}} | | | | | |
| rowspan="2" |Stop/ Affricate !voiceless |{{IPA link|p}} |{{IPA link|t}} |{{IPA link|t͡s}} |{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}} |{{IPA link|k}} |{{IPA link|q}} |{{IPA link|ʔ}} |
| ejective
|{{IPA link|pʼ}} |{{IPA link|tʼ}} | |{{IPA link|t͡ʃʼ}} |{{IPA link|kʼ}} |{{IPA link|qʼ}} | |
| rowspan="2" |Fricative
!voiceless | |{{IPA link|ɬ}} |{{IPA link|s}} | |{{IPA link|x}} |{{IPA link|χ}} |{{IPA link|h}} |
| voiced
|{{IPA link|β}} | | | |{{IPA link|ɣ}} | | |
| colspan="2" |Approximant
| |{{IPA link|l}} | |{{IPA link|j}} |{{IPA link|w}} | | |
| colspan="2" |Trill
| |{{IPA link|r}} | | | | | |
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! !Back |
| Close
|{{IPA link|i}} {{IPA link|iː}} | |{{IPA link|u}} {{IPA link|uː}} |
|---|
| Mid
|{{IPA link|e}} {{IPA link|eː}} |({{IPA link|ə}}) |{{IPA link|o}} {{IPA link|oː}} |
| Open
| |{{IPA link|a}} {{IPA link|aː}} | |
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20121113145613/http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Araucanian_Swadesh_lists Kunza Swadesh vocabulary list] (from Wiktionary's [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Swadesh_lists Swadesh list appendix])
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20161014063032/http://diccionarios.serindigena.org/index.php?a=index&d=7 Spanish-Kunza dictionary online]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20091027045422/http://geocities.com/lenguadeatacama/ Bibliography about Kunza]
- Alain Fabre, 2005, Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: KUNZA[http://www.ling.fi/Entradas%20diccionario/Dic=Kunza.pdf]
- [https://ids.clld.org/contributions/308 Kunza] (Intercontinental Dictionary Series)
{{Languages of Chile}}
{{Language families}}
{{South American languages}}
Category:Indigenous languages of the Andes
Category:Extinct languages of South America
Category:Languages extinct in the 1950s
Category:Language isolates of South America