Moxo languages

Moxo (also known as Mojo, pronounced 'Moho') is any of the Arawakan languages spoken by the Moxo people of the Llanos de Moxos in northeastern Bolivia. The two extant languages of the Moxo people, Trinitario and Ignaciano, are as distinct from one another as they are from neighboring Arawakan languages. The extinct Magiana was also distinct.

Moxo
Mojos
Native to	Bolivia
Region	Beni Department
Ethnicity	21,000 Moxo people (2004)[1]
Native speakers	(10,000 cited 2000–2004)[1]
Language family	Arawakan Southern Bolivia–Parana Moxos languages Moxo
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: ign – Ignaciano Moxos trn – Trinitario Moxos
Glottolog	moxo1234  Mojeno magi1242  Magiana

Moxo languages have an active–stative syntax.^[2] It is one of the National Languages of Bolivia.

Sociolinguistic background

The languages belong 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.^[3] They form part of the Mamoré-Guaporé linguistic area.^[4][5]

Moxo was also the primary lingua franca (Spanish: lengua general) used in the Jesuit Missions of Moxos.^[6]

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.

Classification

The Moxo languages are most closely related to Bauré, Pauna, and Paikoneka. Together, they form the Mamoré-Guaporé languages (named after the Mamoré River and Guaporé River). Classification by Jolkesky (2016):^[7]: 8

• Mamoré-Guaporé languages
  • Bauré
    • Bauré
    • Carmelito
    • Joaquiniano
    • Muxojeóne
  • Moxeno
    • Ignaciano
    • Trinitário
    • Loretano
    • Javierano
  • Paikoneka
    • Paikoneka
  • Paunaka
    • Paunaka

Classification by Danielsen (2011) and Danielsen & Terhart (2014: 226):^[8][9]

• Baure languages
  • Bauré
  • Carmelito
  • Joaquiniano: spoken in San Joaquín
• Pauna languages
  • Paunaka
  • Paikoneka
• Mojo languages
  • Trinitário: spoken in Trinidad
  • Ignaciano: spoken in San Ignacio
  • Loretano: spoken in Loreto
  • Javierano: spoken in San Javier
  • Muchojeone

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants in Ignaciano Mojeno^[10]

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n	ɲ
Stop	p	t		k	ʔ
Affricate		ts	tʃ
Fricative	β	s	ʃ	x
Rhotic		r
Approximant	w	l	j

Consonants in Trinitario Mojeno

	Labial			Alveolar		Palatal	Velar		Glottal
	plain	pal.	lab.	plain	pal.		plain	pal.	plain	pal.	lab.
Nasal	m	mʲ	mʷ	n		ɲ
Stop	p	pʲ		t		c	k	kʲ	ʔ	ʔʲ
Affricate				ts	tsʲ	tʃ
Fricative				s	sʲ	ç			h	hʲ	hʷ
Liquid				ɾ	ɾʲ
Approximant	w	β̞ʲ				j

• /h/ can be voiced as [ɦ] between vowels.
• /w/ can be heard as [β] before a front vowel, and as [ɥ] when preceding /j/.^[11]

Vowels

Vowels in Ignaciano Mojeno^[10]

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e
Low		a

• /e/ can also have an allophone of [ɛ].

Vowels in Trinitario Mojeno^[11]

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː		u uː
Mid	e eː	ə͡e ə͡eː	o oː
Low		a aː

Word lists

The following is a wordlist containing sample words from English to Moxos:

English-Moxos

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

Magíana word list from the late 1700s published in Palau and Saiz (1989):^[12]: 170

Spanish gloss	English gloss	Magíana
bueno	good	shiomá
malo	bad	shiomallama
el padre	father	papá
la madre	mother	kay
el hermano	brother	nomasqui
uno	one	huestiche
dos	two	heravetá

See also

• Indigenous languages of the Americas
• Classification of 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

Further reading

• Carvalho, Fernando O. de; Françoise Rose. Comparative reconstruction of Proto-Mojeño and the phonological diversification of Mojeño dialects. LIAMES, Campinas, v. 18, n. 1, p. 3–44, Jan./Jun. 2018. doi:10.20396/liames.v1i1.8648804
• Key, Mary Ritchie. 2015. Ignaciano dictionary. In: Key, Mary Ritchie & Comrie, Bernard (eds.) The Intercontinental Dictionary Series. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
• Gill, Ruth, and Wayne Gill. 2015. Trinitario dictionary. In: Key, Mary Ritchie & Comrie, Bernard (eds.) The Intercontinental Dictionary Series. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.