Canichana, or Canesi, Joaquiniano, is a possible

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 ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

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department of Beni Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

). In 1991 there were 500 Canichana people, but only 20 spoke the Canichana language; by 2000 the ethnic population was 583, but the language had no mother tongue speakers left. It was spoken on the Mamoré River and Machupo River.

Current situation

The Canichana territory is part of the region historically known as Moxos (or Mojos), which covers approximately 200,000 square kilometers of what is now the department of Beni. According to data provided in Crevels and Muysken (2009:15), based on the 2001 Census, the Canichana population at that time amounted to 404 members. During the research conducted by Crevels between 1999 and 2001, the author could only find three elders who still remembered some single words and phrases in Kanichana. Regarding the ethnic group, Crevels notes that the Canichanas are mainly engaged in agriculture, with their main agricultural products being cassava, corn, rice, beans and plantains. Part of the harvest is for self-consumption and the other part for local sale. Hunting, fishing and gathering are complementary traditional activities, in addition to the sale of their labor as laborers on the ranches.

Classification

Despite tentative proposals to classify the language, it is generally considered a language isolate or an unclassified language.

Phonology

Morphology

As far as nominal morphology is concerned, non-human nouns seem to carry the suffix , which probably indicates the non-possessed form of the noun. For example, the nouns 'smoke', 'fire', and 'flower'. Some adjectives also carry the prefix , e.g. 'canine', 'boy, small'. Nouns not bearing this prefix are those referring to kinship terms and body parts, which are always inalienable nouns bearing a personal prefix; for example: the nouns 'my mother' and 'my heart'. As far as number is concerned, the plural is expressed by the suffix , e.g. 'saints'. As for verbal morphology, it can only be noted that the main arguments S and A of the first and second person are obligatorily marked in the verb. The personal prefixes S/A seem to be derived from the free personal pronouns and can also appear in nouns as possessive markers, as observed in (1). As for the negation, it seems that this is not marked in the predicate but is only expressed through the negative particle ''nihuas'', which is placed before the predicate, as observed in (2):

Syntax

As in neighboring languages, it seems that the only obligatory element in the Canichana clause is the predicate, which generally precedes the subject and complements, as seen in (3): Interrogative pronouns always appear in the initial position of the phrase, as seen in (4): In the noun phrase, the adjectives follow the core noun, as seen in (5):

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the

Mochica language Mochica is an extinct language formerly spoken along the northwest coast of Peru and in an inland village. First documented in 1607, the language was widely spoken in the area during the 17th century and the early 18th century. By the late 19th ...

due to contact.

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Canichana. :

References

*Alain Fabre, 2005, ''Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: KANICHANA'

*de Créqui-Montfort, G.; Rivet, P. (1913). Linguistique Bolivienne: La Langue Kaničana. Mémoires de la Société de Linguistique de Paris, 18:354-377.