Kawésqar language

Kawésqar
Kawésqar
Alacaluf
Kawésqar, Qawasqar
Native to	Chile
Region	Channel Region, western Patagonia, Wellington Island off south Chilean coast, 49° south, with centre in Puerto Edén.
Ethnicity	2,600 Alacaluf people (2002 census)
Native speakers	10 (2019)
Language family	Alacalufan Kawésqar;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	alc
Glottolog	qawa1238
ELP	Kawésqar
	Kawésqar is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger
	This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Kawésqar (Qawasqar), also known as Alacaluf,^[3] is a critically endangered Alacalufan language spoken in southern Chile by the Kawésqar people. Originally part of a small family,^[4] only the northern language remains. In 2009, only a handful of elderly people spoke the language, most of whom lived on Wellington Island off the southwest coast of Chile.^[2]

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open	æ	a

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Plosive	Plain	p	t	t͡ɕ	k	q	ʔ
Plosive	Ejective	pʼ	tʼ	t͡ɕʼ	kʼ		ʔ
Fricative		f	s		x		h
Tap / flap			ɾ
Trill			r
Approximant		w	l	j

Alphabet

The alphabet in use has the following letters: a, æ, c, cꞌ, e, f, h, i, j, k, kꞌ, l, m, n, o, p, pꞌ, q, r, rr, s, t, tꞌ, 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, 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 [Anejo de Estudios Filológicos 12].
Adelaar, Willem & Muysken, Pieter C. 2004. The Languages of the Andes. Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

References

^ Kawésqar language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ ^a ^b "Kawésqar". www.endangeredlanguages.com. Archived from the original on 2016-09-08. Retrieved 2017-01-24.
^ Spelling variants include Kaweskar, Kawaskar, Qawashqar, Kaueskar and Alakaluf, Halakwulup, Halakwalip; other names include Tawókser, Aksanás/Aksana and Hekaine.
^ Hammarström, Harald; Forke, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2020). "Qawasqar". Glottolog 4.3. Archived from the original on 2020-07-18. Retrieved 2020-12-02.

External links

Qawasqar dictionary online (select simple or advanced browsing)
Alfabeto Kawésqar
Kawésqar
SerIndigena - Territorio Kawesqar
Kawésqar at the World Atlas of Language Structures Online
Chilean Languages Collection of Oscar Aguilera and José Tonko - including recordings and transcriptions of stories, myths, and conversations in Kawésqar at AILLA.
Qawasqar (Intercontinental Dictionary Series)

[1] Kawésqar language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[EL-2] "Kawésqar". www.endangeredlanguages.com. Archived from the original on 2016-09-08. Retrieved 2017-01-24.

[3] Spelling variants include Kaweskar, Kawaskar, Qawashqar, Kaueskar and Alakaluf, Halakwulup, Halakwalip; other names include Tawókser, Aksanás/Aksana and Hekaine.

[4] Hammarström, Harald; Forke, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2020). "Qawasqar". Glottolog 4.3. Archived from the original on 2020-07-18. Retrieved 2020-12-02.

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