Chono language
Extinct language of Chile
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chono is a poorly attested extinct language of confusing classification. It is attested primarily from an 18th-century catechism,[1] which is not translated into Spanish. Various placenames in Chiloé Archipelago have Chono etymologies.[2]
| Chono | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Chile |
| Region | Chonos Archipelago, Chiloé Archipelago |
| Ethnicity | Chono people |
| Extinct | 1875[citation needed] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | chon1248 |
 | |
Classification
Viegas Barros, who postulates a relationship between Kawésqar and Yahgan, believes that 45% of the Chono vocabulary and grammatical forms correspond to one of those languages, though it is not close to either.[3]
Glottolog concludes that "There are lexical parallels with Mapuche as well as Qawesqar, ... but the core is clearly unrelated." They characterize Chono as a language isolate, though only as it relates to Mapuche and Kawésqar.
Campbell (2012) concludes that a language called Wayteka or Wurk-wur-we by Llaras Samitier (1967), and which also went by the geographical name "Chono", is spurious, with the source material being a list of mixed and perhaps invented vocabulary.[4]
Phonology
The phonology of Chono can be tentatively reconstructed in part from the data provided by Basauni (1975).[5] Syllables are frequently, but not necessarily, closed. There are few consonant clusters but frequent vowel clusters.[6]
Consonants
The consonant table shows the IPA representation as given by Adelaar (2004), with symbols that differ in angle brackets.[7]
Vowels
In addition to the five monophthongs, Chono appears to have had eight diphthongs, which Adelaar represents as a vowel and a glide: ⟨aw⟩, ⟨ew⟩, ⟨ow⟩, ⟨ay⟩, ⟨yu⟩, ⟨wa⟩, ⟨we⟩, and ⟨wi⟩.[8]
