Isconahua is an indigenous American language of the Panoan family. It is spoken by the Isconahua prople in Peru.[2] The Isconahua, of which over 100 people identified as in 2023,[3] were a very isolated group as of 2008 and has very little contact with the outside world.[4] In spite of this, as of 2023, the language is spoken by only one person, Nawa Nika (Nelita Campos), when language preservation efforts were reported to be underway.[1][3]
| Isconahua | |
|---|---|
| Iskonawa | |
| Native to | Peru, Brazil |
| Ethnicity | >100 Isconahua (2023) |
Native speakers | 1 (2023)[1] |
Panoan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | isc |
| Glottolog | isco1239 |
| ELP | Isconahua |
It has an official alphabet approved by the Ministry of Education of Peru.[5]
History
editDuring the 19th and 20th centuries, the Iskonawa are thought to have retreated into the forest after their numbers were drastically reduced during the Amazon rubber cycle. In 1959, when they were contacted again by American missionaries, who settled them in a village, there were 100 Iskonawa. The linguist Roberto Zariquiey has conducted fieldwork on Iskonawa. As of 2023, only one speaker of Iskonawa remains, Nawa Niká or Nelita Campos. Zariquiey has creates apps to teach Iskonawa from the data collected from Campos, and they have become very popular in Callería, and has launched a school to teach young Iskonawas the language. Campos has also encouraged children to learn the language.[1]
Classification
editIskonawa is a Panoan language. David Fleck (2013) classifies it with Poyanawa, Nukini, Náwa, and the extinct Remo language of the Jaquirana River. He specifically notes that it is very similar to Poyanawa, but also has similarities with Shipibo-Capanahua and Amahuaca.[6]
Phonology
editReferences
edit- 1 2 3 Tegel, Simeon (2023-06-23). "The race to extract an Indigenous language from its last lucid speaker". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2023-07-05.
- ↑ "Indigenous Communities from Peru". Archived from the original on 2010-11-26. Retrieved 2010-01-27.
- 1 2 "Blossoming Words | ReVista". revista.drclas.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2026-05-16.
- ↑ Pantone, Dan James (2008). "Uncontacted Amazon Indians in Peru".
- ↑ "Resolución Ministerial N° 163-2018-MINEDU - Ministerio de Educación del Perú (in Spanish)".
- ↑ Fleck, David W. (2013). Panoan languages and linguistics. Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History. New York, NY: American Museum of Natural History. ISBN 978-0-9852016-2-3.
- 1 2 Zariquiey, Roberto (2016). Vocabulario Iskonawa-Castellano-Inglés. Boston: Department of Romance Languages. p. 12.