Taushiro, also known as Pinche or Pinchi, is a nearly extinct language isolate of the Peruvian Amazon near Ecuador. The last living speaker of Taushiro is Amadeo García García.[3] The language is poorly described, and was only documented beginning in the 1970s.
| Taushiro | |
|---|---|
| Pinche | |
| Native to | Peru |
| Region | Department of Loreto |
| Ethnicity | 5 Taushiro (2017)[1] |
Native speakers | 1 (2017)[2] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | trr |
| Glottolog | taus1253 |
| ELP | Taushiro |
 Taushiro is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
Documentation
editNo documentation seems to have been made or survived from before the 1970s, including colonial documentation or in Günter Tessmann's 1930 work Die Indianer nordost-Perus.[4] The first glossary of Taushiro contained 200 words and was collected by Daniel Velie in 1971.[3] The first substantial documentation was done in the mid-1970s by Nectalí Alicea Ortiz with SIL International.[4][5]
Classification
editTaushiro is generally considered a language isolate, a language with no known relatives.[4]
Following Tovar (1961), Loukotka (1968),[6] and Tovar (1984), Kaufman (1994) notes that while Taushiro has been linked to the Zaparoan languages, it shares greater lexical correspondences with Kandoshi and especially with Omurano.[7] In 2007, however, he classified Taushiro and Omurano (but not Kandoshi) as Saparo–Yawan languages.[8] Marcelo Jolkesky (2016) also identifies lexical similarities with Tequiraca and Leco.[9]
Phonology
editConsonants
editTaushiro has 17 phonemic consonants. The only bilabial consonant in Taushiro is /w/, although it is analyzed as labiovelar by the SAPhon phonological database,[10] thus lacking any labial consonants altogether.[11] Phonemes with restrictions on occurrence are in (parentheses).[12]
| Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | lab. | plain | lab. | pal. | ||||
| Stop | plain | t | k | kʷ | ʔ | |||
| prenasalized | ⁿt | (ᵑk) | ||||||
| Nasal | n | (ŋ) | ||||||
| Fricative | ɕ | x | h | hʷ | hʲ | |||
| Affricate | c͡ɕ | |||||||
| Flap | (ɾ) | |||||||
| Glide | j | w | ||||||
/ɾ/ is restricted to grammatical morphemes. /ŋ/ only occurs in the suffix -ŋɨ and is only pronounced in careful speech, often nasalizing the preceding vowel instead. /ᵑk/ only occurs in the grammatical forms /aᵑka/ 'REL' and /niᵑka/. /w/ and /j/ have nasal allophones of [w̃] and [ɲ], respectively.[12]
Vowels
editTone
editPhonotactics
editMorphology
editNoun phrases
editPronouns
editThree persons and a first person inclusive are distinguished in independent pronouns, which have long forms, used as the core argument in verbs, and short forms, used to complement postpositions. Number is not distinguished for pronouns, with the first person exclusive expressed using the simple first person pronouns.[12]
| long | short | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | úì | ú |
| 1INCL | áì | á |
| 2 | íì | í |
| 3 | nácɕ͡ò | á |
Noun class
editTaushiro distinguishes inalienable versus alienable possession, without any other noun classses.[12]
Postpositions
editTaushiro utlizes postpositions to indicate non-core arguments into a clause, most of which express spatial relation. Core arguments do not bear case markers.[12]
| gloss | Taushiro |
|---|---|
| recipient | -ŋɨ̀ |
| instrumental, comitative | -ha |
| locative | -kú |
| -wà | |
| allative | -wɨ̀ |
| illative | -kúʔkɨ̀ |
| ablative | -wẽʔwɨ̀ |
| superessive | -kàné |
| adessive | -tàkɨ́ |
Syntax
editWord order in Taushiro is verb–subject–object.[13]
Further reading
edit- Alicea Ortiz, Nectalí (2008) [1975]. Vocabulario taushiro. Datos Etno-Lingüísticos (in Spanish and Taushiro). Vol. 22. Lima: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
References
edit- ↑ Taushiro language at Ethnologue (23rd ed., 2020)
- ↑ Taushiro at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- 1 2 Casey, Nicholas (December 26, 2017). "Thousands Once Spoke His Language in the Amazon. Now, He's the Only One". The New York Times. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
- 1 2 3 O'Hagan, Zachary (November 17, 2015). Taushiro and the Status of Language Isolates in Northwest Amazonia (PDF). Fieldwork Forum.
- ↑ Alicea Ortiz, Nectalí (1975). Análisis fonético preliminar del idioma taushiro. Datos Etno-Lingüísticos 23. Lima: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano. Archived from the original on July 23, 2024.
- ↑ Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
- ↑ Moseley, Christopher; Asher, R. E.; Tait, Mary (1994), Atlas of the world's languages, London ; New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-01925-5
- ↑ Kaufman, Terrence (2007). "South America". In Asher, R. E.; Moseley, Christopher (eds.). Atlas of the World's Languages (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. pp. 59–94. ISBN 978-0-415-31074-1.
- ↑ Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
- ↑ Lev, Michael; Stark, Tammy; Chang, Will (2012). "Phonological inventory of Taushiro". The South American Phonological Inventory Database (version 1.1.3 ed.). Berkeley: University of California: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages Digital Resource.
- ↑ Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. (2012). The languages of the Amazon. Oxford linguistics (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-19-959356-9.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 O’Hagan, Zachary (January 16, 2023), Epps, Patience; Michael, Lev (eds.), "22 Taushiro", Language Isolates II: Kanoé to Yurakaré, De Gruyter, pp. 995–1028, doi:10.1515/9783110432732-009, ISBN 978-3-11-043273-2, retrieved February 1, 2026
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link) - ↑ Alicea Ortiz, Nectalí (2008) [1975]. Análisis preliminar de la gramática del idioma Taushiro. Datos Etno-Lingüísticos. Vol. 24. Lima: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
