Guachí (Wachí) is an extinct, apparently

Guaicuruan language Guaicuruan (Guaykuruan, Waikurúan, Guaycuruano, Guaikurú, Guaicuru, Guaycuruana) is a language family spoken in northern Argentina, western Paraguay, and Brazil (Mato Grosso do Sul). The speakers of the languages are often collectively called ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. It is usually classified as one of the

Guaicuruan languages Guaicuruan (Guaykuruan, Waikurúan, Guaycuruano, Guaikurú, Guaicuru, Guaycuruana) is a language family spoken in northern Argentina, western Paraguay, and Brazil (Mato Grosso do Sul). The speakers of the languages are often collectively called ...

, but the data is insufficient to demonstrate that.

Documentation

Guachi is known only from 145 words collected by Francis de Castelnau from March to early April of 1845 in the Miranda area of Argentina.Castelnau, Francis de 1850-1. ''Expédition dans les parties centrales de l’Amérique du Sud: de Rio de Janeiro á Lima, et de Lima au Para, executée par ordre du Gouvernement franais pendant les années 1843 á 1847''. Histoire du Voyage, París: P. Bertrand, vol. 2 & 5.

Classification

Viegas Barros (2004) proposes that Guachi, as well as

Payaguá The Payaguá people, also called Evueví and Evebe, were an ethnic group of the Guaycuru peoples in the Northern Chaco of Paraguay. The Payaguá were a river tribe, living, hunting, fishing, and raiding on the Paraguay River. The name ''Pay ...

, may be a Macro-Guaicurúan language.Viegas Barros, José Pedro. 2004. ''Guaicurú no, macro-Guaicurú sí: Una hipótesis sobre la clasificación de la lengua Guachí (Mato Grosso do Sul, Brasil)''. Ms. 34pp. However, Campbell (2012) classifies Guachi as a

language isolate Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The num ...

Vocabulary

Guachi words and affixes listed in Viegas Barros (2004): :

References

{{South American languages Languages of Argentina Guaicuruan languages Extinct languages of South America Language isolates of South America Chaco linguistic area