Yanesha' language

Amuesha
Yaneshac̈h/Yanešač̣
Pronunciation[janeʃaˀt͡ʂʰ]
Native toPeru
RegionDepartment of Pasco
EthnicityYanesha'
Native speakers
9,800 (2000)[1]
Arawakan
  • Southern
    • Western ?
      • Amuesha
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3ame
Glottologyane1238
ELPAmuesha
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Yanesha' (Yaneshac̈h/Yanešač̣; literally 'we the people'), also called Amuesha or Amoesha is a language spoken by the Amuesha people of Peru in central and eastern Pasco Region.

Due to the influence and domination of the Inca Empire, Yanesha' has many loanwords from Quechua, including some core vocabulary. Yanesha' may also have been influenced by Quechua's vowel system so that, today, it has a three-vowel system rather than a four-vowel one that is typical of related Arawakan languages. There are also many loanwords from Kampa languages.[2]

  1. ^ Amuesha at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Ramirez, Henri (2020). Enciclopédia das línguas Arawak: acrescida de seis novas línguas e dois bancos de dados. Vol. 3 (1 ed.). Curitiba: Editora CRV. doi:10.24824/978652510234.4. ISBN 978-65-251-0234-4. S2CID 243563290.