Vilela language

Vilela (Uakambalelté, Atalalá, Chulupí~Chunupí)^[3] 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'. There were 2 semispeakers as of 2007.

Vilela
Waqha
Native to	Argentina
Region	eastern Chaco
Ethnicity	Vilela (Waqha-umbaꞵelte)
Extinct	by 2007[1] 2 semispeakers (2007)[2]
Language family	Lule–Vilela Vilela
Dialects	Ocol Chinipu Sinipi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	vil
Glottolog	vile1241
ELP	Vilela
Vilela is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

The last Vilela people were absorbed into the surrounding Toba people and Spanish-speaking townsfolk.

Dialects

Loukotka (1968) lists the following dialects of Vilela.^[4]

• 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. Crevels, Mily (2012-01-13), Campbell, Lyle; Grondona, Verónica (eds.), "Language endangerment in South America: The clock is ticking", The Indigenous Languages of South America, DE GRUYTER, pp. 167–234, doi:10.1515/9783110258035.167, ISBN 978-3-11-025513-3, retrieved 2025-02-17
3. Not to be confused with Niwaklé, which is also called Chulupí~Chunupí.
4. 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.