The Chonan languages are a family of indigenous American languages which were spoken in

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

and

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

. Two Chon languages are well attested: Selkʼnam (or Ona), spoken by the people of the same name who occupied territory in the northeast of Tierra del Fuego; and Tehuelche spoken by the people of the same name who occupied territory north of Tierra del Fuego. The name of the family is from ''čonn'', the Selkʼnam word for 'man'.

Previous studies

The

Selkʼnam people The Selkʼnam, also known as the Onawo or Ona people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people in the Patagonian region of southern Argentina and Chile, including the Tierra del Fuego islands. They were one of the last nati ...

were widely studied by anthropologists such as Martin Gusinde and Anne Chapman throughout the 20th century. However, their language went extinct in the 1970s.

Classification

The Haush spoke a language similar to Ona. Some scholars also add to the family the Teushen language — once spoken by the Teushen, located between the Tehuelche and Puelche —though it is poorly attested. Viegas Barros (2005) attempts to demonstrate that Gününa Küne to the north is related to the Chon languages and would constitute one branch of an extended Chonan family. This proposal has been picked up by

Lyle Campbell Lyle Richard Campbell (born October 22, 1942) is an American scholar and linguist known for his studies of indigenous American languages, especially those of Central America, and on historical linguistics in general. Campbell is professor emeri ...

. Based on the scanty evidence that is available, the

Het peoples Het is the term used by Thomas Falkner, an English Jesuit, at the end of the 18th century for various nomadic groups from the and Patagonia, including the so-called and northern Tehuelches, but excluding the Mapuche (speakers of Mapudungun). ...

(or at least the Didiuhet

Querandí The Querandí were one of the Het peoples, indigenous South Americans who lived in the Pampas area of Argentina; specifically, they were the eastern Didiuhet (Diuihet). The name Querandí was given by the Guaraní people, as they would consume ...

]) might be speakers of languages within the proposed Puelche branch. If this is correct, the Chon family would be as follows:

Vocabulary

Čestmír Loukotka, Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for the ''Patagon'' (Chonan) languages. Additional words are also provided. :

References

External links

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

{{South American languages Chonan languages, Language families Languages of Argentina Languages of Chile