Kunza
| Kunza | |
|---|---|
| Atacameño | |
| Native to | Atacama |
| Ethnicity | Atacama |
| Extinct | ca. 1950s |
|
Isolate
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | kunz1244 |
Kunza a.k.a. Cunza, also known as Likanantaí, Lipe, Ulipe, or Atacameño, is an extinct language isolate once spoken in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile and southern Perú (specifically in Peine, Socaire (Salar de Atacama), and Caspana) by the Lickan-antay people, who have since shifted to Spanish.
The last Kunza speaker was found in 1949, although some have been found since according to anthropologists. There are 2,000 Atacameños (W. Adelaar). A dictionary was made for Kunza.
Kaufman (1990) found a proposed connection between Kunza and the likewise unclassified Kapixaná to be plausible; however, when that language was more fully described in 2004, it turned out to be an isolate.
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