Araucanian
Geographic
distribution		Andes of Chile, Argentina
Linguistic classificationOne of the world's primary language families
Subdivisions
Glottologarau1255

The Araucanian languages /ærɔːˈkeɪniən/[1] are a small language family of indigenous languages of the Americas spoken in central Chile and neighboring areas of Argentina. The living representatives of this family are Mapudungun (ISO 639-3: arn) and Huilliche (ISO 639-3: huh), spoken respectively by the Mapuche and Huilliche people. These are sometimes considered divergent dialects of a single language isolate.

Demographics

It is estimated that there are approximately 200,000 Mapudungu speakers in Chile and 40,000 speakers in Argentina. Huilliche is the native language of a few thousand Chileans.

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Kunza, Mochika, Uru-Chipaya, Arawak, Pano, Cholon-Hibito, and Kechua language families due to contact.[2]

Internal classification

Mason (1950)

Internal classification of Araucanian languages by Mason (1950):[3]

Araucanian

Jolkesky (2016)

Internal classification by Jolkesky (2016):[2]

(† = extinct)

Mapudungun

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Mapuche (Araucanian) language varieties.[4]

gloss Mapuche Picunche Pehuenche Huiliche Chilote Ranquelche
one kiñe kiñe kiñe kiñe kenge kiñe
two epu epue epu epu epo epú
three küla kela kela kila köla kʔla
head longko lonko rlonko lonkó
hand kũ kúü kuü ghechu keñeu
water ko ko ko ko ku go
sun antu antü ante ante ánte ant'ü
moon kuyen küyén küyen kiyen kién kiyet
maize voe wa wa waká wa
bird gunún üñem küñüm giñum trarú
dog thehua thewa thewa trehua cheuá
jaguar nahuel nahuel nawel nahuel naue

Further reading

References

  1. ^ "Araucanian". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  2. ^ a b Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho De Valhery. 2016. Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Brasília.
  3. ^ Mason, John Alden (1950). "The languages of South America". In Steward, Julian (ed.). Handbook of South American Indians. Vol. 6. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143. pp. 157–317.
  4. ^ Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.

External links

Primary language families
Languages of Chile
Mapuche
Categories