Tehuelche (Aoniken, Inaquen, Gunua-Kena, Gununa-Kena) is a nearly extinct Chon language spoken by four people in Patagonia out of an ethnic group of 200. They were originally nomadic hunters from Chile. It is also known as Aonikenk or Aonek'o 'ajen. The decline of the language started with the Araucanization of Patagonia, when many Tehuelche tribes adopted Mapudungun as main language. Later during the 19th and 20th century Spanish replaced both as Argentina and Chile took possession of Patagonia.
[edit] Classification
Tehuelche belongs to the Chon family, together with Teushen, Selk'nam and Haush.
[edit] Phonology
[edit] Vowels
Tehuelche has 3 vocalic qualities which can be short or long. (Fernandez 1988: 87-88)
|
Front |
Central |
Back |
| Mid |
e eː |
|
o oː |
| Open |
|
a aː |
|
[edit] Consonants
Tehuelche has 25 consonantal phonemes. Stops can be plain, glottalized or voiced. (Fernández 1998: 88-89)
[edit] Grammar
[edit] Pronoun
|
Singular |
Dual |
Plural |
| 1 person |
ja: |
okwa: |
ošwa: |
| 2 person |
ma: |
mkma: |
mšma: |
| 3 person |
ta: |
tkta: |
tšta: |
[edit] References
- Fernández Garay, Ana V. (1997): Testimonios de los últimos tehuelches. Buenos Aires: Universidad de Buenos Aires.
- Fernández Garay, Ana V. (1998): El tehuelche. Una lengua en vías de extinción. Valdivia: Universidad Austral de Chile [Anejos de Estudios Filológicos 15].
- Fernández Garay, Ana V. (2004): Diccionario tehuelche-español / índice español-tehuelche. Leiden: University of Leiden [Indigenous Languages of Latin America 4].
- Viegas Barros, J. Pedro (2005): Voces en el viento. Raíces lingüísticas de la Patagonia. Buenos Aires: Mondragón.
[edit] External links
