The Fuegian languages are the indigenous languages historically spoken in

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla ...

by Native Americans. Adelaar lists the Fuegian languages as the

Kawésqar language Kawésqar (Qawasqar), also known as Alacaluf, is a critically endangered language isolate spoken in southern Chile by the Kawésqar people. Originally part of a small family, only the northern language remains. In 2009, only a handful of elderl ...

, the

Ona language Ona (Aona), also known as Selk'nam (Shelknam), is a language that is spoken by the Selk'nam people in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego in southernmost South America. Part of the Chonan languages of Patagonia, Selk'nam is almost extinct, due both ...

and the

Yaghan language Yahgan or Yagán (also spelled Yaghan, Jagan, Iakan, and also known as Yámana, Háusi Kúta, or Yágankuta), is an extinct language that was one of the indigenous languages of Tierra del Fuego, spoken by the Yaghan people. It was regarded as a ...

in addition to Chono, Gününa Yajich (also known as Puelche), and the

Tehuelche language Tehuelche (''Aoniken, Inaquen, Gunua-Kena, Gununa-Kena'') is one of the Chonan languages of Patagonia. Its speakers were nomadic hunters who occupied territory in present-day Chile, north of Tierra del Fuego and south of the Mapuche people. It is ...

(Adelaar and Mysken 552-553). Based on current data, the languages are not considered part of the same language family or linguistic area. Though possible genetic relationships have been proposed to categorize them, "more complete descriptions and more detailed comparative studies are needed" before any claim can be made about a genetic relationship (Adelaar and Mysken 578). The current consensus is that Kawésqar, Yaghan, and Chono are language isolates and Ona (also referred to as Selk'nam) is one of the

Chon languages The Chonan languages are a family of indigenous American languages which were spoken in Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia. Two Chon languages are well attested: Selk'nam (or Ona), spoken by the people of the same name who occupied territory in the ...

, along with Tehuelche and Gününa Yajich (Campbell and Grondona 61).

Yaghan

Yaghan (also referred to as Yahgan or Yámana, among other names) is a language historically spoken in Chile and Argentina. It is considered a language isolate and part of its own Yámana language family. Within Chile, it has been found in Patagonia, Isla Navarino, Puerto Williams, and Ukika. Within Argentina, it has been found in the extreme south of Isla Grande in Tierra del Fuego. As of 2022, Yaghan is now extinct with the death of

Cristina Calderón Cristina Calderón Harban (24 May 1928 – 16 February 2022) was a Chilean ethnographer, craftswoman, writer and cultural activist who was the last living full-blooded Yaghan person after the death of her 84-year-old sister Úrsula in 2005. By ...

. There were originally as many as five dialects of Yaghan, but the Yamana people who historically spoke the language have diminished in numbers and shifted to

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

following the arrival of Europeans in Tierra del Fuego (Aguilera 214).

Kawésqar

Kawésqar (also referred to as Qawasqar or Alacaluf, among other names) is a language spoken in Chile, especially in Puerto Edén. It is also considered a language isolate and makes up the Alacalufan language family. It is close to extinction with "no more than fifteen or sixteen" competent speakers. The Kawésqars, an indigenous population in Chile, have been categorized into groups based on geography but "recognize only a Southern group with linguistic differences" (Aguilera 208). Examples of words in the language (also demonstrating the use of suffixation) are ''jéksor'', meaning 'see', and ''jeksórfqat'', meaning 'saw' (Aguilera 211).

Ona

The Ona language (also referred to as Selk’nam or Shelknam) is an extinct language once spoken in Tierra del Fuego. Its last speakers died in the 1970s. It is considered part of the Chon language family. Related languages include Tehuelche and Gününa Küne, which are part of the same language family.

Decline

Yaghan, Kawésqar, and Ona are all extinct or nearly extinct, and their whose numbers of speakers have declined sharply since the 19th century. One reason for the decline is the drastic reduction in size of the indigenous populations who historically spoke these languages. The Yaghan population, for example, was between 2,500 and 3,000 in the late nineteenth century and plummeted to as low as 40 by 1933, partly by diseases like

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

whooping cough Whooping cough, also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious bacterial disease. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common cold with a runny nose, fever, and mild cough, but these are followed by two or t ...

and

typhoid Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several d ...

, introduced by incoming Europeans (Aguilera 214). As the indigenous languages of South America have declined, the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego have come to use Spanish instead. Another reason for this was a discriminatory view of the indigenous languages in South America by the non-indigenous population. Kawesqars, for example, "were looked down on, sometimes with aversion" for speaking their so-called "uncivilized" native tongue and many speakers of Kawésqar refuse to speak it in public as a result (Aguilera 208).

Characteristics

Though the Fuegian languages are not currently believed to be part of a single linguistic area or language family, there are some properties that are frequent in the languages. They include the presence of "voiced and glottalized consonants" and frequent compounding, reduplication, and suffixation. Another unifying feature is word order, all three languages appearing to have the object before the verb (Campbell and Gordona 309). The Fuegian languages are unified in having infrequent "retroflex articulations" and rare instances of suppletion (Adelaar and Mysken 578). A significant obstacle preventing a consensus on any kind of direct relation among the Fuegian languages is the lack of sufficient data. Research on the languages has been limited and is difficult given the minimal number of native speakers remaining.

References

{{Reflist *Adelaar, Willem. The Languages of the Andes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Print. *Aguilera, Oscar. “Fuegian Languages.” The Vanishing Languages of the Pacific Rim. Ed. Osahito Miyaoka, Osamu Sakiyama, Michael E. Krauss. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. 206 – 218. Print. *Campbell, Lyle, and Verónica Grondona, eds. The Indigenous Languages of South America: A Comprehensive Guide. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, 2012. Print. *“Family Chon.” The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. *“Language Qawasqar.” The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. *“Language Selknam.” The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. *“Language Yahgan.” The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.

External links

Family Chon, World Atlas of Language Structures