Aymaran is a small family of indigenous languages of the central Andes, spoken principally in Bolivia and Peru with smaller communities in Chile and Argentina. Its major surviving member is Aymara, spoken by roughly two million people, mostly around Lake Titicaca and the Bolivian altiplano.
Facts
Partially Attested
Proto-Language StatusAymaran's family-internal common ancestor, called Proto-Aymara in the literature, is partially reconstructed at the lexical level; comparative work distinguishes inherited Aymaran vocabulary from words shared with Quechuan through prolonged language contact rather than common descent. 2 Confirmed: scholars use the term Proto-Aymara and reconstruct proto-language lexical roots for the family. Open: this source discusses proto-language reconstruction mainly in the context of separating contact-derived similarities with Quechuan from inherited Aymaran vocabulary, and does not give a full Proto-Aymara phonological inventory in the material reviewed. RegionCentral Andes: Aymara is widely spoken in Bolivia, with the rest in Peru, Chile and Argentina; Jaqaru and Kawki are spoken in central Peru 1 Speaker Count Sources
1. Wikipedia: Aymaran Languages
WikipediaWikipedia, Aymaran languages, introduction
The family consists of Aymara, widely spoken in Bolivia, and the endangered Jaqaru and Kawki languages of Peru.
Wikipedia, Aymaran languages, section Family division
Aymara has approximately 2.2 million speakers; 1.7 million in Bolivia, 350,000 in Peru, and the rest in Chile and Argentina.
View the Source 2. Reconstruction beyond proto-languages in the middle Andes, Cadernos de Linguistica
Introduction, discussion of shared lexical roots and proto-language reconstructionQuote, Introduction, discussion of shared lexical roots and proto-language reconstruction
These similarities were already noticed in the 17th century by Jesuit grammarians and chroniclers, such as Cobo (1653), and have preoccupied philologists and historical linguists ever since. The elements shared by both language groups include (1) an approximate 20% to 25% of nearly identical lexical roots which can be reconstructed to the proto-languages.
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