Chamicuro language

Chamicuro
Chamicolo, Chamicura
Chamekolo
Native to	Peru
Region	Pampa Hermosa
Ethnicity	100 Chamicuro (2015)[1]
Extinct	early 2000s[1] 2 (2008)
Language family	Arawakan Southern Western Chamicuro
Writing system	Latin script (alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ccc
Glottolog	cham1318
ELP	Chamicuro

Chamicuro is an extinct South American language formerly spoken in Peru. The language was used by the Chamicuro people, who number around one hundred people. The Chamicuros currently live on a tributary of the Huallaga river, in Peru, in an area called Pampa Hermosa, though many had been dislocated to the Yavarí and Napo Rivers and to Brazil.[1]

As with all native languages in Peru, Chamicuro was by default an official language in the area in which it was spoken. A dictionary has been published by the Chamicuro, however no children can speak the language as the community has shifted to Spanish.

There is dispute as to whether the unattested language of the Aguano people was the same language as Chamicuro. Loukotka (1968)[2] had identified it with Chamicuro, but the Chamicuro report that the Aguano people spoke Quechua.[3]^[full citation needed]

Phonology

Chamicuro has five vowels: /a, e, i, o, u/. All vowels have both short and long forms.[4]

Consonants in Chamicuro

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palato- alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p	t				k	ʔ
Affricate		t͡s	t͡ʃ	ʈʂ
Fricative		s	ʃ	ʂ			h
Nasal	m	n			ɲ
Lateral		l			ʎ
Flap		ɾ
Semivowel					j	w

See also

• Language death

References

1. Chamicuro at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
2. Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
3. Wise, 1987
4. "SAPhon – South American Phonological Inventories". linguistics.berkeley.edu. Archived from the original on 2021-04-18. Retrieved 2018-08-17.