Chamicuro language

Chamicuro is a critically endangered indigenous American language spoken by only 8 people in South America. The language is of the Chamicuro people who number between 10 and 20. The Chamicuros live on a tributary of the Huallaga river, in Peru, in an area called Pampa Hermosa, meaning beautiful plains.

As with all native languages in Peru, Chamicuro is 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 dispute 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 4 vowels: /a, e, i, o, u/. All vowels have both short and long forms.^[3]

See also

• Language death

References

For a list of words relating to Chamicuro language, see the Chamicuro language category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.