Munichi language
Encyclopedia
Munichi is a recently extinct language which was spoken in the village of Munichis, about 10 miles or 16 km West of Yurimaguas
, Loreto Region
, Peru
. The last known mother-tongue speaker, Victoria Huancho Icahuate, died in the late 1990s, though some people remain in the village who know a few phrases. In 1988, there were two mother-tongue speakers, but they had not met since the 1970s.
suffixes bear a close resemblance to those reconstructed for proto-Arawakan, and there are some other possible cognates. There is no evidence of the language belonging to any known Arawakan language family. There is substantial borrowing from the local variety of Quechua
, and to a lesser extent from Spanish
, but the majority of vocabulary is not borrowed.
Yurimaguas
Yurimaguas is a thriving port-town in the Loreto Region of northeastern Peruvian Amazonia. Historically associated with Maynas Pais de los Maynas, the culturally diverse town is affectionately known as the "Pearl of the Huallaga"...
, Loreto Region
Loreto Region
Loreto is Peru's northernmost region. Covering almost one-third of Peru's territory, Loreto is by far the nation's largest region and also one of the most sparsely populated ones, due to its remote location in the Amazon Rainforest...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. The last known mother-tongue speaker, Victoria Huancho Icahuate, died in the late 1990s, though some people remain in the village who know a few phrases. In 1988, there were two mother-tongue speakers, but they had not met since the 1970s.
Classification
The language is formally unclassified. However the pronominalPronominal
Pronominal can be used either to describe something related to a pronoun or to mean a phrase that acts as a pronoun in the context of nominal. An example of the second case is, "I want that kind". The phrase "that kind" stands in for a noun phrase, or nominal, that can be deduced from context, and...
suffixes bear a close resemblance to those reconstructed for proto-Arawakan, and there are some other possible cognates. There is no evidence of the language belonging to any known Arawakan language family. There is substantial borrowing from the local variety of Quechua
Quechua languages
Quechua is a Native South American language family and dialect cluster spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably...
, and to a lesser extent from Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, but the majority of vocabulary is not borrowed.
External links
- Entry for Munichi at Rosetta Project (not working)