Chamacoco

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A language of Paraguay

ISO 639-3
ceg
Alternate Names
Ishir, Ishiro, Jeywo
User Population

2,000 (Ciucci and Bertinetto 2015).

Location

Alto Paraguay department: (Tomárãho) Pitiantuta and Puerto María Elena, (Ybytoso) Inihta, Karchabalut, Misión Santa Teresita, Puerto Caballo, Puerto Diana, Puerto Esperanza.

Language Maps
Language Status

5 (Developing). Recognized language (2010, Languages Act, No. 4251, Article 2).

Classification
Zamucoan
Dialects

Tomarãho (Chamacoco Bravo, Tomaraho, Tomaraxo, Tomárãho), Chamacoco Ebitoso (Chamacoco Manso, Ebitoso, Ybytoso, Yshyr Ybytoso). Lexical similarity: 30% with Ayoreo [ayo].

Typology

SVO; prepositions and postpositions; noun head initial, except for determiners and possessors; 2 genders (masculine and feminine); inflectional language; verb affixes mark person, number, and gender; no passives or voice; no tense or aspect; 22 consonants and 16 vowels, including 7 nasal vowels.

Language Use

Vigorous. Home. Used by all. Most also use Spanish [spa] (Ciucci 2016). Some also use Paraguayan Guaraní [gug], but with low proficiency (Crevels 2012). Also use Portuguese [por] (Ciucci 2016).

Language Development

Literacy rate in L1: 50%. Literacy rate in L2: 50%. Literature. Dictionary. Texts. NT: 2001.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Chamacoco
Writing

Latin script [Latn].

Other Comments

Christian, traditional religion.