| Kunza | |
| Also Known As: | Atacameño |
| Nativename: | Likanantaí |
| States: | Chile, Peru, Bolivia |
| Ethnicity: | Atacama |
| Extinct: | ca. 1950s |
| Familycolor: | American |
| Family: | Language isolate |
| Iso3: | kuz |
| Glotto: | kunz1244 |
| Glottorefname: | Kunza |
| Region: | Atacama Desert |
Kunza is an extinct language isolate once spoken in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile and southern Peru by the Atacama people, who have since shifted to Spanish. The last speaker was documented in 1949.
Other names and spellings include Cunza, Likanantaí, Lipe, Ulipe, and Atacameño.
The language was spoken in northern Chile, specifically in the Chilean villages of Peine, Socaire (near the Salar de Atacama), and Caspana, and in southern Peru.
The last Kunza speaker was found in 1949, although some have been found since according to anthropologists. There are 2,000 Atacameños (W. Adelaar).
Unattested varieties listed by Loukotka (1968):
A revitalization effort was initiated in the 21st century.[1]
Kaufman (1990) found a proposed connection between Kunza and the likewise unclassified Kapixaná to be plausible; however, the language was more fully described in 2004, and the general consensus among linguists was that both languages are isolates.
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Mochika, Kandoshi, Jaqi, Kechua, Mapudungun, and Uru-Chipaya language families due to contact.[2]
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | |||||||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Stop/ Affricate | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| ejective | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Trill | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
| Close | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | |
| Open | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ |