Vilela language

Vilela
Native to	Argentina
Extinct	20 in 1981; extinct in 2007[1]
Language family	Lule–Vilela Vilela
Language codes
ISO 639-3	vil
Glottolog	vile1241
ELP	Vilela

Vilela (Uakambalelté, Atalalá, Chulupí~Chunupí)^[2] 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.^[3]

• 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		m	n
Plosive	voiced	b	d	dʒ	ɡ	ɢ
	voiceless	p	t	tʃ	k	q	ʔ
	ejective	pʼ	tʼ	tʃʼ	kʼ	qʼ
Fricative	central	f	s	ʃ	x		h
	lateral		ɬ
Approximant		w	l	j
Rhotic			r, ɾ

Notes

1. Vilela at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. Not to be confused with Niwaklé, which is also called Chulupí~Chunupí.
3. Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian Languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center. pp. 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.