Chiquitano language


Chiquitano is an indigenous language isolate spoken in the central region of Santa Cruz Department of eastern Bolivia and the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil.

Classification

Chiquitano is usually considered to be a language isolate. Greenberg linked it to the Macro-Jê languages in his discredited proposal, which was never substantiated.
Kaufman suggests a relationship with the Bororoan languages, while Nikulin suggests that Chiquitano is a sister of Macro-Jê, as does Adelaar.

Varieties

Mason (1950)

lists:
;Chiquito
According to Čestmír Loukotka, dialects were Tao, Piñoco, Penoqui, Kusikia, Manasi, San Simoniano, Churapa.
Chiquitano varieties listed by Nikulin :

Consonants

Vowels

Nasal assimilation

Chiquitano has regressive assimilation triggered by nasal nuclei and targeting consonant onsets within a morpheme.
The language has CV, CVV, and CVC syllables. It does not allow complex onsets or codas. The only codas allowed are nasal consonants.

Vocabulary

lists the following basic vocabulary items for different dialects of Chiquito.
For a vocabulary list of Chiquitano by Santana, see the corresponding :pt:Língua chiquitana|Portuguese article.