Vilela language

Extinct language of Argentina
Vilela
Native toArgentina
Extinct20 in 1981; extinct in 2007[1]
Language family
Language codes
ISO 639-3vil
Glottologvile1241
ELPVilela

Vilela (Uakambalelté, Atalalá, Chulupí~Chunupí)[2] is an extinct language last spoken in the Resistencia area of Argentina and in the eastern Chaco near the Paraguayan border. Dialects were Ocol, Chinipi, Sinipi; only Ocol survives. The people call themselves Waqha-umbaβelte 'Waqha speakers'.

The last Vilela people were absorbed into the surrounding Toba people and Spanish-speaking townsfolk.

Dialects

Loukotka (1968) lists the following dialects of Vilela.[3]

  • Chunupi - formerly spoken on the confluence of the San Francisco River and Bermejo River in the vicinity of La Encrucijada, Valtolema, Ortega, Esquina Grande and Laguna Colma.
  • Pasain - formerly spoken in the vicinity of Macapillo, Argentine Chaco.
  • Ocole - formerly spoken between Lacangayá and Laguna Colma.
  • Omoampa - formerly spoken from Ortega as far as Miraflores.
  • Macomita - once spoken west of the Juramento River, province of Santiago del Estero, Argentina.
  • Yecoamita - once spoken northwest of the Teuco River, Formosa province.
  • Sinipi - formerly spoken on the Bermejo River in the vicinity of Lacangayá.

Phonology

Vilela appears to have the five vowels /a e i o u/ of Spanish and approximately the following consonants:

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m n
Plosive voiced b d ɡ ɢ
voiceless p t k q ʔ
ejective tʃʼ
Fricative central f s ʃ x h
lateral ɬ
Approximant w l j
Rhotic r, ɾ

Notes

  1. ^ Vilela at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Not to be confused with Niwaklé, which is also called Chulupí~Chunupí.
  3. ^ Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian Languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center. pp. 53.

References

Wiktionary has a word list at Appendix:Vilela word list
  • Lozano, Elena (1970). Textos Vilelas. La Plata: CEILP.
  • Lozano, Elena (1977). Cuentos secretos vilelas: I. La mujer tigre. VICUS Cuadernos. Lingüística, Vol.I: 93-116.
  • Golluscio, Lucia A. and Raoul Zamponi (2019). El vilela del siglo XVIII. Indiana 36. 43-68, A1-A56.
  • v
  • t
  • e
Official languagesRegional languagesIndigenous
languages
Chonan
Mataco–
Guaicuru
Charruan
Guaicuruan
Matacoan
Quechuan
Tupi–Guarani
Others
Minority languagesRegional dialectsSign languages
Italics indicate extinct languages
  • v
  • t
  • e
Indigenous language families and isolates of South America
(based on Campbell 2012 classification)
Language families
and isolates
Je–Tupi–Carib
Macro-Jê
Eastern Brazil
Orinoco (Venezuela)
? Duho
Andes (Colombia and Venezuela)
Amazon (Colombia, JapuráVaupés area)
Pacific coast (Colombia and Ecuador)
Pacific coast (Peru)
Amazon (Peru)
Amazon (west-central Brazil)
Mamoré–Guaporé
Andes (Peru, Bolivia, and Chile)
Chaco–Pampas
Far South (Chile)
Proposed groupings
Linguistic areas
Countries
Lists