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Wikipedia / Moxo languages

Moxo (also known as Mojo, pronounced 'Moho') is a subgroup of the Arawakan languages spoken by the Moxo people of the Llanos de Moxos in northeastern Bolivia. The two extant languages of the Moxo people, Trinitario and Ignaciano, are as distinct from one another as they are from neighboring Arawakan languages. The extinct Magiana was also distinct.

The Moxo languages have an active–stative syntax. They are both National Languages of Bolivia.

Sociolinguistic background

The languages belong to a group of tribes that originally ranged through the upper Mamoré, extending east and west from the Guapure (Itenes) to the Beni, and are now centered in the Province of Moxos, Department of Beni, Bolivia. They form part of the Mamoré-Guaporé linguistic area.

Moxo was also the primary lingua franca () used in the Jesuit Missions of Moxos.

Classification

The Moxo languages are most closely related to Bauré, Pauna, and Paikoneka. Together, they form the Mamoré-Guaporé languages (named after the Mamoré River and Guaporé River).

Jolkesky (2016)

Classification by Jolkesky (2016):

Mamoré-Guaporé languages

Bauré

Moxeno

Paikoneka

  • Paikoneka

Paunaka

  • Paunaka

Danielsen (2011)

Classification by Danielsen (2011) and Danielsen & Terhart (2014: 226):

Baure languages

  • Bauré

  • Carmelito

  • Joaquiniano

Pauna languages

  • Paunaka

  • Paikoneka

Mojo languages

Vocabulary

Magíana word list from the late 1700s published in Palau and Saiz (1989):

  1. {| class="wikitable"

! Spanish gloss !! English gloss !! Magíana |- | bueno || good || chimaré |- | malo || bad || mononeparé |- | el padre || father || nuuhá |- | la madre || mother || nuuhéno |- | el hermano || brother || nuuhamí |- | uno || one || piyochó |- | dos || two || tonocovó |- | tres || three || mopoicovó |}

No words were recorded for numerals higher than 3.

Further reading

References