Vilela language explained

Vilela
States:	Argentina
Extinct:	20 in 1981; extinct in 2007
Ref:	e25
Familycolor:	American
Fam1:	Lule–Vilela
Iso3:	vil
Glotto:	vile1241
Glottorefname:	Vilela

Vilela (Uakambalelté, Atalalá, Chulupí~Chunupí)^[1] is an extinct language last spoken in the Resistencia area of Argentina and in the eastern Chaco near the Paraguayan border. Dialects were Ocol, Chinipi, Sinipi; only Ocol survives. The people call themselves Waqha-umbaβelte 'Waqha speakers'.

The last Vilela people were absorbed into the surrounding Toba people and Spanish-speaking townsfolk.

Dialects

Loukotka (1968) lists the following dialects of Vilela.^[2]

• Chunupi - formerly spoken on the confluence of the San Francisco River and Bermejo River in the vicinity of La Encrucijada, Valtolema, Ortega, Esquina Grande and Laguna Colma.
• Pasain - formerly spoken in the vicinity of Macapillo, Argentine Chaco.
• Ocole - formerly spoken between Lacangayá and Laguna Colma.
• Omoampa - formerly spoken from Ortega as far as Miraflores.
• Macomita - once spoken west of the Juramento River, province of Santiago del Estero, Argentina.
• Yecoamita - once spoken northwest of the Teuco River, Formosa province.
• Sinipi - formerly spoken on the Bermejo River in the vicinity of Lacangayá.

Phonology

Vilela appears to have the five vowels /a e i o u/ of Spanish and approximately the following consonants:

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Plosive		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Fricative		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
			pronounced as /link/
Approximant		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Rhotic			pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/

Notes

1. Not to be confused with Niwaklé, which is also called Chulupí~Chunupí.
2. Book: Loukotka, Čestmír . Čestmír Loukotka

   . Čestmír Loukotka . Classification of South American Indian Languages . registration . UCLA Latin American Center . 1968 . Los Angeles . 53.

References

• Lozano, Elena (1970). Textos Vilelas. La Plata: CEILP.
• Lozano, Elena (1977). Cuentos secretos vilelas: I. La mujer tigre. VICUS Cuadernos. Lingüística, Vol.I: 93-116.
• Golluscio, Lucia A. and Raoul Zamponi (2019). El vilela del siglo XVIII. Indiana 36. 43-68, A1-A56.