Moxos language

Moxos
Spoken in	Bolivia
Ethnicity	21,000 Moxo people
Native speakers	10,000  (2000)
Language family	Arawakan Southern Bolivia–Parana Moxos languages Moxos
Language codes
ISO 639-3	either: ign – Ignaciano Moxos trn – Trinitario Moxos

Mojos (aka Moxos, pronounced 'Moho') are a pair of Maipurean languages spoken by the Moxos people of Northeastern Bolivia. The two Mojo 'dialects', Trinitario and Ignaciano, are as distinct from one another as they are from neighboring Maipurean languages.

Moxeno chief at festival in Bolivia.‎

Mojos

The language belongs to a group of tribes that originally ranged through the upper Mamoré, extending east and west from the Guapure (Itenes) to the Beni, and are now centered in the Province of Moxos, Department of Beni, Bolivia.^[1]

Ignaciano is used in town meetings unless outsiders are present, and it is a required subject in the lower school grades, one session per week. Perhaps half of the children learn Ignaciano. By the 1980s there were fewer than 100 monolinguals, all older than 30.

Population 4,500 (2000 SIL). Ethnic population: 20,805 with Trinitario (2000 W. Adelaar).

Region South central Beni.

Population 5,500 (2000 SIL). Ethnic population: 20,805 with Ignaciano (2000 W. Adelaar).

Region South central Beni.

Dialects Loreto (Loretano), Javierano.

Classification Arawakan, Maipuran, Southern Maipuran, Bolivia-Parana

Word Set

English/Mojo Word Set

One – Ikapia
Two – Apisá
Three – Impúse
Man – Ehiro
Woman – Eseno
Sun – Sáche
Water – Uni
Fire – Yuku
Head – Nuxuti
Hand – Nubupe
Corn – Suru

See also

• Indigenous languages of the Americas
• Classification schemes for indigenous languages of the Americas
• Mesoamerican languages
• Language families and languages
• Classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas
• Indigenous peoples of the Americas
• Category:Indigenous languages of the Americas (division into geocultural areas)
• Languages of Peru
• List of Spanish words of Indigenous American Indian origin

References

1. ^ http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10606b.htm, New Advent, Moxos Indians, Retrieved February 10, 2011.

External links