Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Kunza language

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Native to
  
Atacama

Extinct
  
ca. 1950s

ISO 639-3
  
kuz

Ethnicity
  
Atacama

Language family
  
Isolate

Glottolog
  
kunz1244

Kunza a.k.a. Cunza, also known as Likanantaí, Lipe, Ulipe, or Atacameño, is an extinct language isolate once spoken in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile and southern Perú (specifically in Peine, Socaire (Salar de Atacama), and Caspana) by the Lickan-antay people, who have since shifted to Spanish.

The last Kunza speaker was found in 1949, although some have been found since according to anthropologists. There are 2,000 Atacameños (W. Adelaar). A dictionary was made for Kunza.

Kaufman (1990) found a proposed connection between Kunza and the likewise unclassified Kapixaná to be plausible; however, when that language was more fully described in 2004, it turned out to be an isolate.

References

Kunza language Wikipedia


Similar Topics