| Vilela | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Argentina |
| Extinct | 20 in 1981; extinct in 2007[1] |
Lule–Vilela
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | vil |
| Glottolog | vile1241 |
| ELP | Vilela |
Vilela (Uakambalelté, Atalalá, Chulupí~Chunupí)[2] is an extinct language last spoken in the Resistencia area of Argentina and in the eastern Chaco near the Paraguayan border. Dialects were Ocol, Chinipi, Sinipi; only Ocol survives. The people call themselves Waqha-umbaβelte 'Waqha speakers'.
The last Vilela people were absorbed into the surrounding Toba people and Spanish-speaking townsfolk.
Dialects[edit]
Loukotka (1968) lists the following dialects of Vilela.[3]
- Chunupi - formerly spoken on the confluence of the San Francisco River and Bermejo River in the vicinity of La Encrucijada, Valtolema, Ortega, Esquina Grande and Laguna Colma.
- Pasain - formerly spoken in the vicinity of Macapillo, Argentine Chaco.
- Ocole - formerly spoken between Lacangayá and Laguna Colma.
- Omoampa - formerly spoken from Ortega as far as Miraflores.
- Macomita - once spoken west of the Juramento River, province of Santiago del Estero, Argentina.
- Yecoamita - once spoken northwest of the Teuco River, Formosa province.
- Sinipi - formerly spoken on the Bermejo River in the vicinity of Lacangayá.
Phonology[edit]
Vilela appears to have the five vowels /a e i o u/ of Spanish and approximately the following consonants:
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||||
| Plosive | voiced | b | d | dʒ | ɡ | ɢ | |
| voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | q | ʔ | |
| ejective | pʼ | tʼ | tʃʼ | kʼ | qʼ | ||
| Fricative | central | f | s | ʃ | x | h | |
| lateral | ɬ | ||||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | ||||
| Rhotic | r, ɾ | ||||||
Notes[edit]
- ^ Vilela at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ Not to be confused with Niwaklé, which is also called Chulupí~Chunupí.
- ^ Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian Languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center. pp. 53.
References[edit]
- Lozano, Elena (1970). Textos Vilelas. La Plata: CEILP.
- Lozano, Elena (1977). Cuentos secretos vilelas: I. La mujer tigre. VICUS Cuadernos. Lingüística, Vol.I: 93-116.
- Golluscio, Lucia A. and Raoul Zamponi (2019). El vilela del siglo XVIII. Indiana 36. 43-68, A1-A56.