Tequiraca (Tekiráka), also known as Abishira (Avishiri)* and Aiwa (Aewa) and Ixignor,
is a language spoken in
Peru. In 1925 there were between 50 and 80 speakers in
Puerto Elvira on
Lake Vacacocha (connected with the
Napo River
The Napo River ( es, Río Napo) is a tributary to the Amazon River that rises in Ecuador on the flanks of the east Andean volcanoes of Antisana, Sincholagua and Cotopaxi.
The total length is . The river drains an area of . The mean annual discha ...
). It is presumed extinct some time in the mid 20th century, though in 2008 two
rememberers were found and 160 words and short sentences were recorded.
The little data available show it to not be closely related to other languages, though a distant connection to
Canichana
Canichana, or Canesi, Joaquiniano, is a possible language isolate of Bolivia (department of Beni). In 1991 there were 500 Canichana people, but only 20 spoke the Canichana language; by 2000 the ethnic population was 583, but the language had no L ...
was proposed by Kaufman (1994).
*Other spellings are ''Auishiri, Agouisiri, Avirxiri, Abiquira, Abigira''; it has also been called ''Ixignor'' and ''Vacacocha.''
Jolkesky (2016) also notes that there are lexical similarities with
Taushiro, likely as a result of prehistoric contact within the circum-Marañón interaction sphere.
Phonology
Consonants
A single apostrophe
indicates glottalization of the corresponding consonant
A double apostrophe
nowiki>''indicates aspiration
Vowels
is the verbalizer
Vocabulary
Michael & Beier (2012)
Aiwa lexical items listed in Michael & Beier (2012):
[Michael, Lev and Christine Beier. 2012. ''Phonological sketch and classification of Aʔɨwa SO 639: ash'. Paper presented at the 2012 Winter meeting of the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas]
SSILA
, Portland, OR, January 6, 2012.
:
Table comparing Aiwa (Tequiraca) with
Waorani,
Iquito
Iquito (pronounced ) is a highly endangered Zaparoan language of Peru. Iquito is one of three surviving Zaparoan languages; the other two being Záparo, with 1-3 speakers, and Arabela with about 75 speakers. Three extinct languages are also con ...
, and
Maijiki (mã́ḯhˈkì; Orejón) from Michael & Beier (2012):
:
Loukotka (1968)
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Auishiri.
:
Sources
*Harald Hammarström, 2010, 'The status of the least documented language families in the world'. In ''Language Documentation & Conservation'', v 4, p 18
*Alain Fabre, 2005, ''Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: AWSHIRI
*Michael, Lev; Beier, Christine. (2012). ''Phonological sketch and classification of Aewa''. (Manuscript).
;Earlier lexical sources
*Tessmann, Günter. 1930. ''Die Indianer Nordost-Perus: Grundlegende Forschungen für eine Systematische Kulturkunde''. Hamburg: Friederichsen, De Gruyter & Co. (112 lexical items)
*Espinoza, Lucas. 1955. ''Contribuciones lingüísticas y etnográficas sobre algunos pueblos indígenas del Amazonas peruano''. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Instituto Bernardino de Sahagún. (17 lexical items)
*Villarejo, Avencio. 1959. ''La selva y el hombre''. Editorial Ausonia. (93 lexical items)
References
{{South American languages
Extinct languages of South America
Languages extinct in the 20th century
Language isolates of South America