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// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs the Selk'nam language fading? Yes, it's a dying tongue.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Ona language)
Selkʼnam
Ona
Selkʼnamčan
Native toArgentina, Chile
RegionPatagonia, Tierra del Fuego.
EthnicitySelkʼnam
Extinctafter 1981[1]
1 fluent L2 speaker (2014)[2][3]
Revivalcurrently being revitalised by the modern community
Chonan
  • Chon proper
    • Island Chon
      • Selkʼnam
Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3ona
Glottologonaa1245
ELPOna
Ona is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.
PeopleSelkʼnam
LanguageSelkʼnamčan
CountryKarukinka[4]

Selkʼnam, also known by the exonym Ona, is a language formerly spoken by the Selkʼnam people in Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego in southernmost South America.

One of the Chonan languages of Patagonia, Selkʼnam is now extinct, due to the late 19th-century Selkʼnam genocide by European immigrants, high fatalities due to disease, and disruption of traditional society. The last fluent native speakers died in the 1980s.[5] Radboud University linguist Luis Miguel Rojas-Berscia worked with two individuals to write a reference grammar of the language, namely, Herminia Vera Ilioyen (died 2014), a semi-speaker who spoke Selkʼnam until the age of 8, and Joubert "Keyuk" Yanten [es], a young man who started learning the language after learning he was part-Selkʼnam at the age of 8.[2] At the time the grammar was written, the latter was believed to be the only living individual fluent in Selkʼnam, albeit not natively.

Classification

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Within the Southern Chon language family, Selkʼnam is closest to Haush, another language spoken on the island of Tierra del Fuego.

There is speculation that Chon together with the Moseten languages, a small group of languages in Bolivia, form part of a Moseten-Chonan language family.

History

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The Selkʼnam people, also known as the Ona, are an Indigenous people who inhabited the northeastern part of the archipelago of Tierra del Fuego for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. They were nomads known as "foot-people," as they did their hunting on land, rather than being seafarers.

A Selkʼnam family

The last full-blooded Selkʼnam, Ángela Loij, died in 1974.[6] They were one of the last aboriginal groups in South America to be reached by Europeans. Their language, believed to be part of the Chonan family, is considered extinct as the last native speakers died in the 1980s.[5] Currently, Selkʼnam communities are revitalizing the language. A man of mixed Selkʼnam and Mapuche ancestry, Joubert Yanten Gomez (Indigenous name: Keyuk), has successfully taught himself the language.[7]

Phonology

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Based on available data, Selkʼnam seems to have had 3 vowels and 23 consonants.[2]

Vowels

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Selkʼnam's three vowels were /a, ɪ, ʊ/.

Tone

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There was also a simple tone system, which Najlis (1973) analyzed as high and low tone, and Martini (1982) analyzed as pitch accent.

Consonants

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Consonants[2]
Bilabial Alveolar Post-
alveolar		 Velar Uvular Glottal
dental plain
Nasal m n
Plosive/
Affricate		 plain p t t͡ʃ k q ʔ
glottalized pˀ tˀ t͡ʃˀ kˀ qˀ
Fricative s̪ s ʂ x h
Liquid rhotic ɾ
lateral l
Semivowel w j

Grammar

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The Selkʼnam language is an object–verb–subject language (OVS). This is a rare word order: only 1% of languages use it as their default word order. There are only two word classes in Selkʼnam: nouns and verbs.[8]

Vocabulary

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The Selkʼnam language has Chonan vocabulary similar to the Haush language, though some words have been adopted from Spanish and English, such as the word for 'cat', in Selkʼnam, kʼlattítaŭ; from the Spanish word gatito, which translates to 'kitten'.[9]

Comparative vocabulary

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The following is a list of examples of comparative vocabulary from Chonan languages: Selkʼnam, Haush and Tehuelche; and also vocabulary from the unrelated Yahgan (Yámana).[10][11][12][13]

English Selkʼnam Haush Tehuelche Yahgan
Egg Heil Hel Hel Hach
Man Chon Kon Chonke Ona
Woman Naa Mna Karken, naa Kipa
Hand Chen Chen Chen Marʼpo
I, me Ya Iá, ya
Sea Koy Kowen, chowen Koy Yká
You Ma, mak Maha, maak Sa

See also

[edit]

References

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  1. ↑ Clairis, Christos (1985-12-31), "20. Indigenous Languages of Tierra del Fuego" (PDF), in Klein, Harriet E. Manelis; Stark, Louisa R. (eds.), South American Indian Languages, University of Texas Press, pp. 753–783, doi:10.7560/775923-021, ISBN 978-1-4773-0025-1, retrieved 2026-05-26
  2. 1 2 3 4 Rojas-Berscia, Luis Miguel (2014). A Heritage Reference Grammar of Selkʼnam (PDF) (Master thesis). Nijmegen: Radboud University.
  3. ↑ Thurman, Judith (2015-03-23). "Can Dying Languages Be Saved?". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2025-03-16.
  4. ↑ "Conservation in Tierra del Fuego: Getting to Know Karukinka". Conservation Atlas. 15 August 2017. Retrieved 27 March 2026.
  5. 1 2 Adelaar, Willem (2010). "South America". In Moseley, Christopher; Nicolas, Alexandre (eds.). Atlas of the world's languages in danger (3rd entirely revised, enlarged and updated ed.). Paris: UNESCO. pp. 86–94. ISBN 978-92-3-104096-2.
  6. ↑ "Angela Loij". Research Institute for the Study of Man – The Reed Foundation. 27 May 1975. Archived from the original on 14 September 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
  7. ↑ Thurman, Judith (23 March 2015). "A loss for words: Can a dying language be saved?". The New Yorker. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on 14 August 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  8. ↑ Najlis, Elena L. (1973). Lengua selknam. Filología y lingüística (in Spanish). Vol. 3. Buenos Aires: Universidad de Salvador.
  9. ↑ Lehmann-Nitsche, Roberto (1913). Selkʼnam words. The Ōōna vocabulary collected by Roberto Lehmann-Nitsche.
  10. ↑ "Lengua Haush. Vocabulario". pueblosoriginarios.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-04-27.
  11. ↑ "Lenguas Ona o Selknam. Prospecto comparativo Idioma Tehuelche". pueblosoriginarios.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-04-27.
  12. ↑ "Lengua Tehuelche. Diccionario Aónikenk - Español". pueblosoriginarios.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-04-27.
  13. ↑ "Lenguas Yámana y Kawésqar. Vocabulario comparativo". pueblosoriginarios.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-04-27.
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