View source for Chamacoco language

{{Short description|Zamucoan language}}
{{use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}

{{Infobox language
| name             = Chamacoco
| nativename       = ''Ishír''
| states           = [[Paraguay]]
| ethnicity        = [[Chamacoco people|Chamacoco]]
| speakers         = 2,000
| date             = 2015
| ref              = <ref>{{ethnologue21|ceg|access-date=2018-07-20}}</ref>
| familycolor      = American
| fam1             = [[Zamucoan languages|Zamucoan]]
| iso3             = ceg
| glotto           = cham1315
| glottorefname    = Chamacoco
| region           = [[Alto Paraguay Department|Alto Paraguay]]
}}

[[File:WIKITONGUES- Andrés speaking Yshyr.webm|thumb|A speaker of Chamacoco, also known as Ishír/Yshyr.]]

'''Chamacoco''' is a [[Zamucoan language]] spoken in [[Paraguay]] by the [[Chamacoco people]]. It is also known as ''Xamicoco'' or ''Xamacoco'', although the tribe itself prefers the name  '''Ishír''' (which is also spelled ''Ɨshɨr'', ''Ishiro'', ''Yshyr'') and sometimes ''Jewyo''.<ref name=chama>{{cite web |url=http://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Chamacoco-Orientation.html |title=Chamacoco: Orientation |website=Every Culture |year=2008 |access-date=29 March 2009}}</ref> When the term ''Ishiro'' (or ''yshyro'' or ''ɨshɨro'') is used to refer to the language, it is an abbreviation for ''Ishir(o) ahwoso'', literally meaning 'the words, the language of the Chamacoco people'.<ref name="name">{{cite journal |last=Ciucci |first=Luca |year=2011 |title=L'amico di D'Annunzio e la tribù perduta: in Sudamerica alla ricerca dei confini di Babele |journal=Normale. Bollettino dell'associazione Normalisti |volume=XIV |issue=1–2 |pages=23–28 |url=http://www.sns.it/scuola/associazioni/normalisti/bollettino/archivio/1112XIVn12/download/NormaleXIVn12-interno.pdf |access-date=2013-07-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204145822/http://www.sns.it/scuola/associazioni/normalisti/bollettino/archivio/1112XIVn12/download/NormaleXIVn12-interno.pdf |archive-date=2013-12-04}} </ref> It is spoken by a traditionally [[hunter-gatherer]] society that now practices [[agriculture]]. Its speakers are of all ages, and generally speak [[Spanish language|Spanish]] or [[Guarani language|Guarani]] as second and third languages.<ref name="ethno">{{ethnologue15|ceg|access-date=29 March 2009}}</ref>

==Classification==
Chamacoco is classified as a Zamucoan language, along with [[Ayoreo language|Ayoreo]]. Both languages are considered endangered.<ref name="sorosoro">{{cite web |url=http://www.sorosoro.org/en/zamucoan-languages |website=Sorosoro |title=Zamucoan family |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104210120/http://www.sorosoro.org/en/zamucoan-languages |archive-date=2011-01-04 }}</ref> There is relatively little information about the Zamucoan family. 

Chamacoco speakers live in the northeastern part of the [[Gran Chaco|Chaco Boreal]] at the origin of the [[Verde River (Paraguay)|Río Verde]] in Paraguay.<ref name="ethno"/> Four dialects of Chamacoco have been identified: Héiwo, in the [[Fuerte Olimpo]] area; Ebidóso and Hório, spoken in the Bahía Negra region; and Tomaráho, in the [[Alto Paraná Atlantic forests]].<ref name="chama"/>

The speakers of Hório and Ebidóso were estimated to be 800 in 1970. Fewer than 200 people spoke Tomaráho then. Back in 1930, over 2000 people were estimated to speak Chamacoco.<ref name="chama"/>

Verb inflection is based on personal prefixes and the language is tenseless.<ref name=verbo>{{cite journal |last=Ciucci |first=Luca |year=2009 |title=Elementi di morfologia verbale del chamacoco |journal=Quaderni del Laboratorio di Linguistica della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa |volume=8 |url=http://linguistica.sns.it/QLL/QLL09.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203001802/http://linguistica.sns.it/QLL/QLL09.htm |archive-date=2013-12-03 |lang=it }}</ref> For example, {{lang|ceg|chɨpɨrme teu dosh}} means "the kingfisher eats fish", while {{lang|ceg|chɨpɨra teu wichɨ dosht}} means "the kingfisher will eat fish." Nouns can be divided into possessable and non-possessable. Possessable nouns are characterized by a prefixation whereby the noun agrees with the possessor or genitival modifier.<ref name=poss>{{cite journal |last=Ciucci |first=Luca |year=2010 |title=La flessione possessiva del chamacoco |journal=Quaderni del Laboratorio di Linguistica della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa |volume=9 |issue=2 |url=http://linguistica.sns.it/QLL/QLL10.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115082203/http://linguistica.sns.it/QLL/QLL10.htm |archive-date=2016-11-15 |lang=it}}</ref> There is no difference between nouns and adjectives in suffixation.<ref name=voc>{{cite journal |last=Ciucci |first=Luca |year=2013 |title=Chamacoco lexicographical supplement |journal=Quaderni del Laboratorio di Linguistica della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa |volume=12 |url=http://linguistica.sns.it/QLL/QLL13.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203001512/http://linguistica.sns.it/QLL/QLL13.htm |archive-date=2013-12-03 }}</ref> The syntax is characterized by the presence of para-hypotactical structures.<ref name=sint>{{cite journal |last1=Bertinetto |first1=Pier Marco |first2=Luca |last2=Ciucci |year=2012 |title=Parataxis, Hypotaxis and Para-Hypotaxis in the Zamucoan Languages |journal=Linguistic Discovery |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=89–111 |url=http://journals.dartmouth.edu/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Journals.woa/2/xmlpage/1/article/404?htmlAlways=yes |doi=10.1349/PS1.1537-0852.A.404 |doi-access=free|hdl=11384/2132 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> The comparison of inflectional morphology has shown remarkable similarities with Ayoreo and Ancient Zamuco.<ref name=comp>{{cite thesis |last=Ciucci |first=Luca |year=2013 |title=Inflectional morphology in the Zamucoan languages |publisher=Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa |degree=PhD}}</ref>

An Ɨshɨr (Chamacoco) Living Dictionary is currently{{as of when?|date=August 2024}} under construction,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://livingdictionaries.app/ishir-chamacoco/entries/list |website=livingdictionaries.app |title=Ɨshɨr (Chamacoco)}}</ref> spearheaded by Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages. This project is being curated in close collaboration with Ɨshɨr language activists such as Andres Ozuna Ortiz.

== Phonology ==

=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+Vowels<ref name="SAPhon">{{cite dictionary |last=Huntington |first=Charlie |year=2012 |title=About the Chamacoco Dictionary |dictionary=Chamacoco Talking Dictionary |url=http://chamacoco.swarthmore.edu/about.php |access-date=2012-04-05 |url-status=deviated}}, cited in {{Cite web|url=http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~saphon|website=SAPhon – South American Phonological Inventories |title=Chamacoco|language=en|access-date=2018-07-20}}</ref>
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPAlink|i}}
|{{IPAlink|ɨ}}
|{{IPAlink|u}}
|-
![[Near-close vowel|Near-close]]
|{{IPAlink|ɪ}}
|
|
|-
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|{{IPAlink|e}}
|{{IPAlink|ə}}
|{{IPAlink|ɔ}}
|-
!Open
|{{IPAlink|a}}
|
|{{IPAlink|ɑ}}
|}
All vowels except for {{IPA|/ɑ, ə/}} have nasalized forms.<ref name="SAPhon"/>

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+Consonants<ref name="SAPhon"/>
! colspan="2" |
![[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Postalveolar consonant|Post-alveolar]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Stop consonant|Stop]]/[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
|{{IPAlink|p}}
|{{IPAlink|t}}
|{{IPAlink|t͡ʃ}}
|{{IPAlink|k}}
|{{IPAlink|ʔ}}
|-
!<small>voiced</small>
|{{IPAlink|b}}
|{{IPAlink|d}}
|{{IPAlink|d͡ʒ}}
|{{IPAlink|g}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
|
|{{IPAlink|s}}
|{{IPAlink|ʃ}}
|
|{{IPAlink|h}}
|-
!<small>voiced</small>
|
|{{IPAlink|z}}
|{{IPAlink|ʒ}}
|{{IPAlink|ɣ}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPAlink|m}}
|{{IPAlink|n}}
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
!<small>plain</small>
|
|{{IPAlink|ɹ}}
|
|{{IPAlink|w}}
|
|-
![[Lateral consonant|<small>lateral</small>]]
|
|{{IPAlink|l}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Trill consonant|Trill]]
|
|{{IPAlink|r}}
|
|
|
|}

==Sample words and phrases==
{{unsourced|section|date=August 2024}}
* {{lang|ceg|matah debich}} ([[International Phonetic Alphabet|IPA]]: a debitʃ) – finger
* {{lang|ceg|aap}} (IPA: ap) – fox/lion cub
* {{lang|ceg|tɨkɨn chɨp owa}} (IPA: tɪgɪ ʃebɔa) – thank you very much
* {{lang|ceg|ich amatak}} (IPA: ɪdʒ amaɹtɔk) – he eats a lot
* {{lang|ceg|ye takmape}} (IPA: je taɣmabe) – he does not eat a lot
* {{lang|ceg|tɨkɨya oyetɨke}} (IPA: tɪkija ɔɪhetɪgɪ) – I bought a dog for you
* {{lang|ceg|yok}} (IPA: jɔk) – I
* {{lang|ceg|ich takaha}} (IPA: i taɣaha) – I go

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
{{sister project |project=wiktionary |text=[[Wiktionary]] has a word list at '''''[[Wiktionary:Appendix:Chamacoco word list|Appendix:Chamacoco word list]]'''''}}
*[https://livingdictionaries.app/ishir-chamacoco/entries/list Ɨshɨr (Chamacoco) Living Dictionary]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110104210120/http://www.sorosoro.org/en/zamucoan-languages Sorosoro Project]
*ELAR archive of [http://elar.soas.ac.uk/deposit/0326 Documentation of the Tomarâho variety of Chamacoco, Paraguay]

{{Languages of Paraguay}}
{{South American languages}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamacocco Language}}
[[Category:Zamucoan languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Paraguay]]
[[Category:Chaco linguistic area]]