Kawésqar language
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Kawésqar (Qawasqar), also known as Alacaluf, is a critically endangered
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 nu ...
spoken in southern
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...
by the Kawésqar people. Originally part of a small family, 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.


Phonology


Vowels


Consonants


Alphabet

The alphabet in use has the following letters: a, æ, c, c', e, f, h, i, j, k, k', l, m, n, o, p, p', q, r, rr, s, t, t', 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 In grammar, tense is a category that expresses time reference. Tenses are usually manifested by the use of specific forms of verbs, particularly in their conjugation patterns. The main tenses found in many languages include the past, presen ...
, which includes a basic morphological contrast between future, present, immediate past, recent past, distant past, and mythological past events.


See also

* Alacalufe people *
List of endangered languages in South America An endangered language is a language that it is at risk of falling out of use, generally because it has few surviving speakers. If it loses all of its native speakers, it becomes an extinct language. UNESCO defines four levels of language en ...


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 nejo de Estudios Filológicos 12 * Pieter C. Muysken. 2004. ''The Languages of the Andes''. Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


References


External links


Qawasqar dictionary online
(select simple or advanced browsing)
KawésqarKawésqar at the World Atlas of Language Structures Online
- including recordings and transcriptions of stories, myths, and conversations in Kawésqar at AILLA.
Qawasqar
(
Intercontinental Dictionary Series The Intercontinental Dictionary Series (commonly abbreviated as IDS) is a large database of topical vocabulary lists in various world languages. The general editor of the database is Bernard Comrie of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary A ...
) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kawesqar Language Indigenous languages of the South American Cone Languages of Chile Alacalufan languages Critically endangered languages Endangered Alacalufan languages Fuegian languages Kawésqar