Chácobo is a Panoan language spoken by about 550 of 860 Chácobo people of the Beni Department northwest of Magdalena, Bolivia. Chácobo children are learning the language as a first language, but the Pakawara dialect is moribund. Karipuna may have been a variant; alternative names for it are Jaunavô (Jau-Navo, Jaũn Àvo) and Éloe.

Several unattested extinct languages were reported to have been related, perhaps dialects. These include Capuibo and Sinabo/Shinabo of the Mamoré River. However, nothing is actually known of these purported languages.

Phonology

Consonants

BilabialAlveolarRetroflexPost-alv./ PalatalVelarGlottal
Nasalmn
Stopptkʔ
Affricatet͡st͡ʃ
Fricativeβsʂʃh
Tapɽ
Approximantwj
  • Sounds /t͡ʃ, ʃ/ may also be heard as palatalized [t͡ʃʲ, ʃʲ] when before vowels in free variation.
  • /k/ may be heard as a voiced fricative [ɣ] when in between the positions of /ɨ/.
  • /t͡ʃ/ assimilates to a retroflex [t͡ʂ] when /ʂ/ is in the following syllable.
  • /n/ can be heard as [ɲ] as a realization of the sequence /ni/.

Vowels

FrontCentralBack
Highiɨo
Mid
Lowa
  • /o/ may be heard as [u] when occurring within the environment of high vowels.

Vocabulary

Some Chácobo words are given below.

Numerals

ChácoboGloss
nicatsu1
dafuira2
unamarana3
atchayuna4
chayuna5

Pronouns

ChácoboGloss
hiasroI
mianiyou
zonihuahe/she/it/they
noquirzowe
zunimatoyou (pl.)

Vocabulary

ChácoboGloss
chiifire
huisruhuainarain
jiniwater
maiearth
oriquitifood
ossemoon
rsepochicha
rsiquimaize
varisun
vistimastar
  • Tallman, Adam J. (2018). A grammar of Chácobo, a southern Pano language of the northern Bolivian Amazon (Ph.D. thesis). The University of Texas at Austin. doi:. hdl:.

External links