Chamacoco language

Chamacoco
Ishír
Native toParaguay
RegionAlto Paraguay
EthnicityChamacoco
Native speakers
2,000 (2015)[1]
Zamucoan
  • Chamacoco
Language codes
ISO 639-3ceg
Glottologcham1315
ELPChamacoco
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.[2] 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'.[3] It is spoken by a traditionally hunter-gatherer society that now practices agriculture. Its speakers are of all ages, and generally speak Spanish or Guarani as second and third languages.[4]

  1. ^ Chamacoco language at Ethnologue (21st ed., 2018) Closed access icon
  2. ^ "Chamacoco: Orientation". Every Culture. 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
  3. ^ Ciucci, Luca (2011). "L'amico di D'Annunzio e la tribù perduta: in Sudamerica alla ricerca dei confini di Babele" (PDF). Normale. Bollettino dell'associazione Normalisti. XIV (1–2): 23–28. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  4. ^ Chamacoco language at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005) Closed access icon