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Chimane
Chimane
Tsimané, Mosetén, Tsimane'
tsinsimik
Native to	Bolivia
Region	western Amazon
Ethnicity	Tsimané
Native speakers	5,300 (2004)
Language family	Moseten–Chonan? Chimane;
Dialects	Tsimane' (90%); Santa Ana Mosetén; Covendo Mosetén;
Official status
Official language in	Bolivia
Language codes
ISO 639-3	cas
Glottolog	mose1249
ELP	Mosetén

Chimané (Tsimane') is a South American language isolate. Some dialects are known as Mosetén (Mosetén of Santa Ana, Mosetén of Covendo). Chimane is a language of the western Bolivian lowlands spoken by the Tsimane peoples along the Beni River and the region around San Borja in the Department of Beni (Bolivia). Sakel (2004)^[2] classifies them as two languages for a number of reasons, yet some of the variants of the language are mutually intelligible and they reportedly have no trouble communicating (Ethnologue 16) and were evidently a single language separated recently through cultural contact (Campbell 2000).

Status

The dialects of Tsimane' are in different sociolinguistic situations. Covendo Mosetén has around 600 speakers, while Santa Ana Mosetén only has around 150-200 speakers. Both of these dialects are fading quickly, and almost all speakers of these dialects are bilingual in Spanish. Only older speakers maintain use of the language without Spanish influence. Tsimane' proper, on the other hand, has at least 4,000 speakers, and the number of speakers is growing. In addition, the majority of speakers of Tsimane' proper are monolingual. The Mosetén were in contact with missions for almost 200 years, while the Tsimane' have remained isolated for much longer, thus leading the Tsimane' to preserve their customs and traditions, including language, much more than the Mosetén.^[2]

Dialects

Dialects listed by Mason (1950):^[3]

Chimane dialects
- Moseten
  - Amo
  - Aparono
  - Cunana
  - Chumpa
  - Magdaleno
  - Punnucana
  - Rache
  - Muchanes
  - Tucupi
- Chimane
  - Chimaniza
  - Chumano
  - Nawazi-Monlji

Tsimane’ /tsi'maneʔ/ and Mosetén /mose'ten/ are self-designations that refer to both the language and ethnic group. Chimanes also refer to their language as tsunsi’ĉan /tsɨnt'siʔkhan/ ‘in our (language)’, while Mosetenes also refer to their language as tsinsi’ mik /tsint'si mik/ ‘our language’. As a dialect continuum, dialects of Chimane-Mosetén include Covendo Mosetén (500–800 speakers), spoken in the village of Covendo; Santa Ana Mosetén (150–200 speakers); and Chimane (12,500–15,000 speakers). Covendo is a more remote village that is predominantly ethnic Mosetén, while Santa Ana Mosetén (located between Covendo Mosetén and Chimane) is spoken in Santa Ana, which has many Spanish speakers who have moved from other parts of Bolivia. Chimane is still vigorously spoken, while Mosetén is highly endangered.^[4]^: 303

Classification

Mosetenan has no obvious relatives among the languages of South America. There is some lexicon shared with Puquina and the Uru–Chipaya languages, but these appear to be borrowings. Morris Swadesh suggested a Moseten–Chon relationship, which Suárez provided evidence for in the 1970s, and with which Kaufman (1990) is sympathetic.

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Uru-Chipaya, Yurakare, and Pano language families due to contact.^[5]

Writing system

Chimane has been written since 1980 in a Spanish-based alphabet devised by Wayne Gill. It uses the additional letters ṕ, ć, q́u, tś, ćh, mʼ, nʼ, ä. It is widely used in publications and is taught in Chimane schools.^[6]

In 1996, Colette Grinevald created an alphabet for Moseten and Chimane which used only those letters found on a Spanish keyboard. It included the multigraphs ph khdh ch chh tsh dh, and was adopted by the Moseten.^[6]

Bolivian Law 3603 of 2007 Jan 17 recognizes the rights of the Chimane and Moseten to their language in all aspects of life in Bolivia, including education, and Chimane translation of policy which concerns them, and that written Chimane must use the unique Chimane(-Moseten) alphabet. However, it does not clarify which alphabet this is.^[7]

Phonology

Tsimane' has 5 vowels:^[2]

Vowels
	Front	Central	Back
Close	i
Close-mid	e		o
Mid		ə
Open		a

Tsimane' has 24 consonants:^[2]

Consonants
		Labial	Alveolar		Post-alv./ Palatal	Velar	Glottal
		Labial	plain	pal.	Post-alv./ Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ɲ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	tʲ		k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d	dʲ
	aspirated	pʰ				kʰ
Affricate	plain		t͡s		t͡ʃ
Affricate	aspirated		t͡sʰ		t͡ʃʰ
Fricative		f	s		ʃ		h
Approximant		ʋ			j
Trill			r

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Mosetene and Chimane.^[8]

gloss	Mosetene	Chimane
one	irit	íris
two	pára	pöre
three	chibin	chiːbi
tooth	moñín	múdyin
tongue	nem	ném
hand	uñ	ín
woman	pen	pén
water	oxñi	oñé
fire	tsi	tsí
moon	ivua	ihúa
maize	tára	tãra
jaguar	itsiki	ítsikí
house	aka	aká

References

Notes

^ Chimane at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Sakel, Jeanette (2004). A grammar of Mosetén. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3110183404. OCLC 56682554.
^ Mason, John Alden (1950). "The languages of South America". In Steward, Julian (ed.). Handbook of South American Indians. Vol. 6. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143. pp. 157–317.
^ Epps, Patience; Michael, Lev, eds. (2023). Amazonian Languages: Language Isolates. Volume I: Aikanã to Kandozi-Chapra. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-041940-5.
^ Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
^ ^a ^b Sakel, Jeanette, Gender Agreement in Mosetén, with Crevels, Mily and Simon van de Kerke in Sérgio Meira, Hein van der Voort (Editors): Current Studies on South American Languages, Indigenous Languages of Latin America 3, Leyde, CNWS, 2002 ISBN 90-5789-076-3
^ Ley 3603 de Enero 17 de 2007, declara patrimonio cultural, intangible de la nacion la lengua tsimane (chimane-mostene) Archived 2012-09-25 at the Wayback Machine
^ Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.

Sources

Adelaar, Wilhem (2004). The Languages of the Andes. Cambridge University Press.
Sakel, Jeanette (2009). Mosetén y Chimane (Tsimane'). In: Mily Crevels and Pieter Muysken (eds.) Lenguas de Bolivia, vol. I, 333–375. La Paz: Plural editores.
Sakel, Jeanette (2003). A Grammar of Mosetén (Thesis). University of Nijmegen.