Chamicuro language

Chamicuro is a dormant (documented but not used by any native speakers) South American language formerly spoken in Peru.[1] The language was used by the Chamicuro people who number around one hundred people. The Chamicuros live on a tributary of the Huallaga river, in Peru, in an area called Pampa Hermosa, meaning beautiful plains.

Chamicuro
Chamicolo, Chamicura
Chamekolo
Native to	Peru
Region	Pampa Hermosa
Ethnicity	Chamicuro
Native speakers	none (2019)[1]
Language family	Arawakan Southern Western Chamicuro
Writing system	Latin script (alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ccc
Glottolog	cham1318
ELP	Chamicuro[2]

As with all native languages in Peru, Chamicuro was by default an official language in the area in which it is spoken. A Chamicuro dictionary has been created, however no children can speak the language as they have shifted to Spanish.

There is controversy in regard to whether Aguano is the same language, which one study (Ruhlen 1987) says it is, but the Chamicuros disputed this (Wise, 1987), although this may be for cultural reasons and the languages may actually be intelligible, but the different people do not relate to one another and maintain different names and connotations between their language or languages.

Phonology

Chamicuro has 5 vowels: /a, e, i, o, u/. All vowels have both short and long forms.[3]

Consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	p	t				k	ʔ
Affricate		t͡s	t͡ʃ	ʈʂ
Fricative		s	ʃ	ʂ			h
Nasal	m	n			ɲ
Lateral		l			ʎ
Semivowel					j	w
Flap		ɾ

See also

• Language death

References

1. Chamicuro at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
2. Endangered Languages Project data for Chamicuro.
3. "SAPhon – South American Phonological Inventories". linguistics.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2018-08-17.