Candoshi-Shapra (also known as Candoshi, Candoxi, Kandoshi, Kandozi-Chapra,
and Murato) is an indigenous American
language isolate
A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu and Burushaski in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America, and Tiwi ...
, spoken by several thousand people in western South America along the Chapuli, Huitoyacu, Pastaza, and Morona river valleys. There are two dialects, Chapara (also spelled Shapra) and Kandoashi (Kandozi). It is an official language of
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
, like other native languages in the areas in which they are spoken and are the predominant language in use. Around 88.5 percent of the speakers are bilingual with
Spanish. The literacy rate in Candoshi-Shapra is 10 to 30 percent and 15 to 25 percent in the second language Spanish. There is a Candoshi-Shapra dictionary, and grammar rules have been codified.
Distribution
Kandozi is spoken to the southeast of the main Chapra area. It is spoken along the
Chapuli River (or
Chapuri River) and sources of
Rimachi Lake, the
Huitoyacu River, and other tributaries of the
Pastaza River
The Pastaza River (, formerly known as the SumataraEnock, Charles Reginald (1914) ''Ecuador: its ancient and modern history, topography and natural resources, industries and social development'' Charles Scribner's sons, New Yorkpages 177–178 ) ...
. Chapra is spoken along the
Pushaga River, as well as other tributaries of the
Morona River.
Classification
Candoshi is not closely related to any living language. It may be related to the extinct and poorly attested language
Chirino. Four words of Chirino are mentioned in ''Relación de la tierra de Jaén'' (1586), and they resemble words in modern Candoshi. A somewhat longer list of words is given in the same document for
Rabona, across the modern border in
Ecuador
Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
and include some names of plants that resemble Candoshi, but such words can easily be borrowed.
Among modern languages, Loukotka (1968),
followed by Tovar (1984), connected Candoshi with
Taushiro (Pinche).
Kaufman (1994) tentatively proposed a ''Kandoshi–Omurano–Taushiro'' language family, with Candoshi the most distant of the trio. However, Kaufman (2007) placed Omurano and Taushiro but not Candoshi in
Saparo–Yawan.
David Payne (1981) proposes that Candoshi is related to
Jivaroan, which Payne calls Shuar. Together, Shuar and Candoshi make up a putative Shuar-Candoshi family, for which Payne (1981) provides a tentative reconstruction of Proto-Shuar-Candoshi.
Jolkesky (2016) classifies Candoshi-Shapra as a
Macro-Arawakan language.
[Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho De Valhery. 2016. ]
Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas
'. Doutorado em Linguística. Universidade de Brasília.
Language contact
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the
Hibito-Cholon,
Jivaroan,
Cahuapanan,
Quechua,
Kunza,
Mochica, and
Panoan language families due to contact.
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
* ELAR Collection
Documentation of Kandozi and Chapra (Candoshi-Shapra) in Loreto, Perudeposited by Simon Overall
{{South American languages
Languages of Peru
Indigenous languages of Western Amazonia
Language isolates of South America