Asháninka language

{{distinguish|Ashéninka language}} {{short description|Arawakan language of Peru and Acre, Brazil}} {{More citations needed|date=July 2025}} {{use dmy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox language | name = Asháninka | nativename =  | states = Peru and Brazil | ethnicity = Asháninka people | speakers = 35,000 | date = 2007 | ref = e21 | speakers2 = 63,000 all varieties Ashaninka & Asheninka (2007 census)<ref name=e21/> | familycolor = arawakan | fam1 = Arawakan | fam2 = Southern | fam3 = Campa | iso3 = cni | glotto = asha1243 | glottorefname = Asháninka | image = Alphabet in Ashaninca.jpg | altname = "Campa" | imagecaption = Table with abc in a small school of the people of Asháninca in Peru (Prov. Puerto Inca, Huanuco Region) }}

'''Asháninka''' (also known as '''Campa''', although this name is derogatory<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vigil |first1=Nila |title=Racismo en el discurso sobre los asháninkas de satipo |journal=Discurso & Sociedad |date=2010 |volume=4 |issue=5 |pages=538–578 |doi=10.14198/dissoc.4.3.4 |lang=es|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vigil |first1=Nila |last2=Zariquiey |first2=Roberto |title=La internalización del discurso racista en los jóvenes asháninkas |journal=Lengua y Sociedad |date=2017 |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=54–75 |doi=10.15381/lengsoc.v16i1.22384 |hdl=20.500.14005/3221 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Michael |first1=Lev |title=Rethinking the communicative functions of evidentiality: Event responsibility in Nanti (Arawakan) evidential practice |journal=Cadernos de Etnolingüística |date=2020 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=95–123 |url=http://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local--files/cadernos%3Avol8n1/cadernos_de_etnolinguistica_vol8n1.pdf}}</ref>) is an Arawakan language spoken by the Asháninka people of Peru and Brazil. It is largely spoken in the Satipo Province located in the Amazon forest.<ref>Mihas, Elena. "Non-spatial setting in Satipo Ashaninka (Arawak)." ''Talk given at the Round Table Meeting, LCRC (Language and Culture Research Centre, James Cook University), September''. Vol. 2. 2015.</ref> While there are low literacy rates in Asháninka, language use is vibrant among the community.

==Classification==

The Campa (or Pre-Andean) group of the Maipurean language family includes Asháninka, Gran Pajonal Campa, Ashéninka, Axaninca, Machiguenga, and Nomatsiguenga. As these are all very closely related linguistic systems, the decision to call them dialects of a single language or different languages rests on social and political considerations rather than linguistic similarity or difference, as in so many other places in the world. Attempts to unify the varieties with one written standard have not been successful.

==History==

The language has also been called both Asháninka and Campa; the latter of which is considered by the Asháninka to be offensive, as it derives from the Quechua word ''thampa'', meaning ragged and dirty. Like all languages that have a predominance in any particular region of Perú, Asháninka is an official language in the area in which it is spoken, as provided by the Constitution. Literacy rates range from 10% to 30%, compared to 15% to 25% literacy for the second language, Spanish.

== Threats ==

This language can be categorized as vulnerable for a multitude of reasons. South America has been a target for logging and other deforestation efforts, that are oftentimes illegal. Those that speak Asháninka call the historically dense rainforests of Peru and Brazil their home, and live off this land. This habitat, specially in the Peruvian side, faces a moderate threat from logging and other destructive practices by outside forces.

==Phonology== === Consonants === {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" ! !Labial !Alveolar !Palatal !Velar !Glottal |- !Plosive |{{IPA link|p}} |{{IPA link|t}} |{{IPA link|tʲ}} |{{IPA link|k}} | |- !Affricate | |{{IPA link|t͡s}} |{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}} | | |- !Fricative |{{IPA link|β}} |{{IPA link|s}} |{{IPA link|ʃ}} | |{{IPA link|h}} |- !Nasal |{{IPA link|m}} |{{IPA link|n}} |{{IPA link|ɲ}} | | |- !Rhotic | |{{IPA link|ɾ}} | | | |- !Semivowel | | |{{IPA link|j}} | | |} Following voiced nasals, voiceless plosives become voiced. Preceding an {{IPA|a}} vowel, a {{IPAslink|k}} sound becomes labialized as {{IPAblink|kʷ}}. A labial sound {{IPAblink|w}} is formed when two vowels {{IPA|/oa/}} are together.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Campa (Arawak) phonemes |last=Dirks |first=Sylvester |jstor=1263133 |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |volume=19 |issue=4 |date=October 1953 |pages=302–304 |doi=10.1086/464237 }}</ref>

=== Vowels === {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" ! ! Front ! Back |- ! Close | {{IPA link|i}} | |- ! Mid | {{IPA link|e}} | {{IPA link|o}} |- ! Open | colspan="2" | {{IPA link|a}} |}

==Vocabulary==

{| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! English !! Spanish !! Asháninka !Yanesha' |- | one || {{lang|es|uno}}|| {{lang|cni|aparo}} ||{{lang|ame|pat̃e’ts}} |- | two || {{lang|es|dos}} || {{lang|cni|apite}} ||{{lang|ame|epa}} |- | three || {{lang|es|tres}} || {{lang|cni|maava}} || {{lang|ame|ma’pa}} |- | man || {{lang|es|hombre}} || {{lang|cni|shirampari}} || {{lang|ame|yacma/encanesha’}} |- | woman || {{lang|es|mujer}} || {{lang|cni|tsinane}} || {{lang|ame|peno}} |- | dog || {{lang|es|perro}} || {{lang|cni|otsiti}} || {{lang|ame|ochec}} |- | sun || {{lang|es|sol}} || {{lang|cni|poreatsiri}} || {{lang|ame|atsne’}} |- |wind || {{lang|es|viento}} || {{lang|cni|tampia}} || {{lang|ame|m̃orr}} |- | moon || {{lang|es|luna}} || {{lang|cni|cashiri}} || {{lang|ame|arrorr}} |- | water || {{lang|es|agua}} || {{lang|cni|nija}} || {{lang|ame|pat̃err}} |}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book |last1=Crevels |first1=Mily |chapter=Language Endangerment in South America: The Clock Is Ticking |title=The Indigenous Languages of South America: A Comprehensive Guide |year=2012 |pages=167–234 |editor-first1=Lyle |editor-last1=Campbell |editor-first2=Veronica |editor-last2=Grondona |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |doi=10.1515/9783110258035.167 |isbn=978-3-11-025513-3 }} * {{cite dictionary |last1=Cushimariano Romano |first1=Rubén |first2=Richer C. |last2=Sebastián Q. |year=2009 |title=Diccionario asháninka–castellano |version=Preliminary version |url=https://lengamer.org/publicaciones/diccionarios/Dic_Prelim_Ashaninka.pdf}} *"Asháninka." Language, Alphabet and Pronunciation. Accessed May 5, 2016.

==External links== {{Incubator|cni|lang=Asháninka}}

* "Base De Datos De Pueblos Indígenas U Originarios." Base De Datos De Pueblos Indígenas U Originarios. Accessed March 11, 2016. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140820030107/http://bdpi.cultura.gob.pe/pueblo/ashaninka] * [http://www.language-archives.org/language/cni Language Archives.org] * "Native American Vocabulary: Ashaninka Words (Campa)." Ashaninka Words (Campa, Ashninka). 2015. [http://worldwideexpress.ca/ashaninka-words-vocabulary/] *"The Endangered Languages Project." Endangered Languages Project. Accessed May 5, 2016. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150419070028/http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/1718/guide]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashaninka Language}} Category:Languages of Peru Category:Campa languages Category:Endangered Arawakan languages Category:Endangered languages of South America Category:Vulnerable languages