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Wikipedia / Kunza language

Kunza () is the extinct language isolate of the Atacama people, once spoken in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile and southern Peru who have since shifted to Spanish. The last speakers were documented in 1964; However, there is currently a revitalization effort.

Other names and spellings include Cunza, Ckunsa, , Lipe, Ulipe, and Atacameño. The word means 'our' in Kunza.

From what data is available, it is believed that it is a polysynthetic language. However, there is not sufficient information to determine which languages it was related to, if any. Thus, it is conventionally classified as a language isolate.

History

The language was spoken in northern Chile, specifically in the Chilean villages of Peine, Socaire (near the Salar de Atacama), and Caspana, and in southern Peru.

The last Kunza speakers were found in 1953 according to anthropologists. Loukotka (1968) reports a few speakers in Bolivia and in the village of Peine in Chile. There are 2,000 Atacameños as of 2004.

A revitalization effort was initiated in the 21st century.

Classification

Kaufman (1990) found a proposed connection between Kunza and the likewise unclassified Kapixaná to be plausible; however, the general consensus among linguists was that both languages are isolates.

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Mochika, Kandoshi, Jaqi, Kechua, Mapudungun, and Uru-Chipaya language families due to contact.

Phonology

Consonants

The vocabulary of Kunza is well-documented, but the phonetic realizations of lexical transcriptions are not so certain due to the widely differing systems of transcription that were used. Because of this, the accepted phonologic system for Kunza is tentative, and potentially even speculation. Even so, it is well known that the stops and affricates were distinguished between plain and glottalized (the latter being represented by a doubled consonant in some transcriptions, even in initial position).

San Román (1890) makes a considerably greater distinction between different velar and uvular consonants. He distinguishes between and , the latter used to represent a "very strong" consonant. His represents a "strong palatal sound", which he found "impossible...to write". Adelaar and Muysken (2004) believe this represents a "strongly aspirated postvelar stop". San Román characterizes Kunza as using many "doubled consonants", pronounced "more separately and strongly than the Italians". He also mentions a sound of a "certain tenderness", which he writes , in contradiction to the perceived "roughness" of the language. is only present in loanwords. and are not directly attested, but are presumed to have been present based on data collected in 1981. Velar and postvelar sounds are not consistently distinguished in the data.

Vowels

The use of doubled vowels in transcriptions suggests the existence of a contrast of length. Very few words begin with a vowel, almost all of them being non-lexical grammatical words or loanwords. The only vowels possible in initial position are .

Sample text

In 1867, Johann Jakob von Tschudi collected two versions of the prayer Our Father in Kunza.

See also

  • Arackar, a species of dinosaur whose name is derived from Kunza

References