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Kawesqar languages

Kawésqar
Alacaluf
Native to Chile
Region Channel Region, western Patagonia, Wellington Island off south Chilean coast, 49° south, with centre in Puerto Edén.
Ethnicity 2,600 Alacaluf people (2002 census)
Native speakers
12 (2006)
Alacalufan
  • Kawésqar
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottolog qawa1238
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.

Kawésqar (Qawasqar), also known as Alacaluf, is a critically endangered language isolate spoken in southern Chile by the Kawésqar people. Originally part of a small family, only the northern language remains. Only 7 speakers of the language remain, most of them on Wellington Island off the southwestern coast of Chile.

The alphabet in use has the following letters: a, æ, c, c', e, f, h, i, j, k, k', l, m, n, o, p, p', q, r, rr, s, t, t', u, w, x.[1] However, differences are reported between dialects, and some sounds are not represented.

Kawésqar has a complex system of grammatical tense, which includes a basic morphological contrast between future, present, immediate past, recent past, distant past, and mythological past events.


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