Canichana, or Canesi, Joaquiniano, is a possible language isolate of Bolivia (department of Beni). 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 L1 speakers left.

Canichana
Joaquiniano
Native toBolivia
RegionBeni Department
Extinctca. 2000
Official status
Official language in
 Bolivia
Language codes
ISO 639-3caz
Glottologcani1243
ELPCanichana
Historical distribution of the language

It was spoken on the Mamoré River and Machupo River.[1]

Language contact edit

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Mochica language due to contact.[2]

Vocabulary edit

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Canichana.[1]

gloss Canichana
one mereka
two kadita
three kaʔarxata
tooth eu-kuti
tongue au-cháva
hand eu-tixle
woman ikegahui
water nese
fire nichuku
moon nimilaku
maize ni-chuxú
jaguar ni-xolani
house ni-tikoxle

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
  2. ^ Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
  • Alain Fabre, 2005, Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: KANICHANA.[1]
  • de Créqui-Montfort, G.; Rivet, P. (1913). Linguistique Bolivienne: La Langue Kaničana. Mémoires de la Société de Linguistique de Paris, 18:354-377.

External links edit