Chono language
Extinct language of Chile
title: "Chono language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["extinct-languages-of-south-america", "indigenous-languages-of-south-america", "language-isolates-of-south-america"] description: "Extinct language of Chile" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chono_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Extinct language of Chile ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Chono |
| states | Chile |
| region | Chonos Archipelago, Chiloé Archipelago |
| ethnicity | Chono people |
| extinct | 1875 |
| familycolor | American |
| family | Language isolate |
| iso3 | none |
| glotto | chon1248 |
| glottorefname | Chono |
| ref | |
| map | Patagonian lang.png |
| :: |
| name = Chono | altname = | nativename = | states = Chile | region = Chonos Archipelago, Chiloé Archipelago | ethnicity = Chono people | extinct = 1875 | familycolor = American | family = Language isolate | iso3 = none | glotto = chon1248 | glottorefname = Chono | ref = | image = | map = Patagonian lang.png
Chono is a poorly attested extinct language of confusing classification. It is attested primarily from an 18th-century catechism, which is not translated into Spanish. Various placenames in Chiloé Archipelago have Chono etymologies, despite the main indigenous language of the archipelago at the arrival of the Spanish being Veliche.
Classification
Campbell (2012) concludes that the language called Chono or Wayteka or Wurk-wur-we by Llaras Samitier (1967) is spurious, with the source material being a list of mixed and perhaps invented vocabulary.
Viegas Barros, who postulates a relationship between Kawesqar and Yaghan, believes that 45% of the Chono vocabulary and grammatical forms correspond to one of those languages, though it is not close to either.
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", which corresponds to an unclassified language in other classifications.
Phonology
The phonology of Chono can be tentatively reconstructed in part from the data provided by Basauni (1975). Syllables are frequently, but not necessarily, closed. There are few consonant clusters but frequent vowel clusters.
Consonants
The consonant table shows the IPA representation as given by Adelaar (2004), with symbols that differ in angle brackets.
::data[format=table title="Conosnants{{sfn|Adelaar|2004|p=565}}"]
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | Nasal | Plosive/Affricate | voiceless | voiced | Fricative | Approximant | Lateral |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| {{efn | may have been realized as , , , or , among other possible realizations. | |||||||||||
| :: |
Vowels
::data[format=table title="Vowels{{sfn|Adelaar|2004|p=565}}"]
| Front | Central | Back | High | Mid | Low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
In addition to the five monophthongs, Chono appears to have had eight diphthongs, which Adelaar represents as a vowel and a glide: , , , , , , , and .
References
Works cited
References
- {{cite wikisource
- (1960). "Ensayo sobre los indios Chonos e interpretación de sus toponimías". [[Anales de la Universidad de Chile]].
- Campbell, Lyle. (2012). "The Indigenous Languages of South America". De Gruyter Mouton.
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