Moxos language
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Moxo (also known as ''Mojo'', pronounced 'Moho') is any of the
Arawakan languages Arawakan (''Arahuacan, Maipuran Arawakan, "mainstream" Arawakan, Arawakan proper''), also known as Maipurean (also ''Maipuran, Maipureano, Maipúre''), is a language family that developed among ancient indigenous peoples in South America. Branc ...
spoken by the Moxo people of the Llanos de Moxos in northeastern Bolivia. The two extant languages of the Moxo people, ''Trinitario'' and ''Ignaciano'', are as distinct from one another as they are from neighboring Arawakan languages. The extinct ''Magiana'' was also distinct. Moxo languages have an active–stative syntax.


Sociolinguistic background

The languages belong to a group of tribes that originally ranged through the upper Mamoré, extending east and west from the Guapure ( Itenes) to the
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, and are now centered in the Province of Moxos, Department of Beni, Bolivia. They form part of the Mamoré-Guaporé linguistic area. Moxo was also the primary lingua franca ( es, lengua general) used in the Jesuit Missions of Moxos. Ignaciano is used in town meetings unless outsiders are present, and it is a required subject in the lower school grades, one session per week. Perhaps half of the children learn Ignaciano. By the 1980s there were fewer than 100 monolinguals, all older than 30.


Classification

The Moxo languages are most closely related to Bauré, Pauna, and Paikonéka. Together, they form the ''Mamoré-Guaporé'' languages (named after the Mamoré River and
Guaporé River Guaporé River ( pt, Rio Guaporé, es, Río Iténez) is a river in western Brazil and northeastern Bolivia. It is long; of the river forms the border between Brazil and Bolivia. The Guaporé River is part of the Madeira River basin, which eve ...
). Classification by Jolkesky (2016): * Mamoré- Guaporé languages ** Bauré ***Bauré ***Carmelito ***Joaquiniano ***Muxojeóne **Moxeno ***Ignaciano ***Trinitário ***Loretano ***Javierano **Paikonéka ***Paikonéka ** Paunáka ***Paunáka Classification by Danielsen (2011) and Danielsen & Terhart (2014: 226): * Baure languages **Bauré **Carmelito **Joaquiniano: spoken in San Joaquín * Pauna languages **Paunáka **Paikonéka *Mojo languages **Trinitário: spoken in
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**Ignaciano: spoken in San Ignacio **Loretano: spoken in Loreto **Javierano: spoken in San Javier **Muchojeone


Phonology


Consonants

* /h/ can be voiced as ¦between vowels. * /w/ can be heard as ²before a front vowel, and as ¥when preceding /j/.


Vowels

* /e/ can also have an allophone of


Word lists

The following is a wordlist containing sample words from English to Moxos: Magíana word list from the late 1700s published in Palau and Saiz (1989):Palau, Mercedes and Blanca Saiz. 1989. ''Moxos: Descripciones exactas e historia fiel de los indios, animales y plantas de la provincia de Moxos en el virreinato del Perú por Lázaro de Ribera, 1786-1794''. Madrid: El Viso. :


See also

*
Indigenous languages of the Americas Over a thousand indigenous languages are spoken by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. These languages cannot all be demonstrated to be related to each other and are classified into a hundred or so language families (including a large num ...
* Classification of indigenous languages of the Americas * Mesoamerican languages * Language families and languages * Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas *
Indigenous peoples of the Americas The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...
* :Indigenous languages of the Americas (division into geocultural areas) * Languages of Peru * List of Spanish words of Indigenous American Indian origin


Further reading

*Carvalho, Fernando O. de; Françoise Rose
Comparative reconstruction of Proto-Mojeño and the phonological diversification of Mojeño dialects
''LIAMES'', Campinas, v. 18, n. 1, p. 3–44, Jan./Jun. 2018. *Key, Mary Ritchie. 2015
Ignaciano dictionary
In: Key, Mary Ritchie & Comrie, Bernard (eds.) ''The Intercontinental Dictionary Series''. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. *Gill, Ruth, and Wayne Gill. 2015
Trinitario dictionary
In: Key, Mary Ritchie & Comrie, Bernard (eds.) ''The Intercontinental Dictionary Series''. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.


References


External links


Ignaciano
( Intercontinental Dictionary Series)
Trinitario
( Intercontinental Dictionary Series) {{Jesuit Missions of Moxos Arawakan languages Languages of Bolivia * Jesuit Missions of Moxos