Tehuelche (Aonekko ‘a’ien) is a Tchonic language from Patagonia that, at the time of this Talking Dictionary was made, was spoken by a single elderly speaker, Mrs. Dora Manchado. She sadly passed away only a few months after these words and phrases were recorded by Javier Domingo. This collaborative project intends to add to the existing documentation by creating a repository of common conversational language used in everyday discourse, as well as community and personal histories. The collected discourse has been documented due to its relevance for the community’s purpose of reclaiming the language and its functional usage in their lives.
The Tehuelche (aonekko 'a'ien) Talking Dictionary was produced by: Dora Manchado (the last Tehuelche / aonekko 'a'ien speaker), Javier Domingo (ethnolinguist, Université de Montréal), Kevin J. Tuite (linguistic supervision, Université de Montréal), Anna Luisa Daigneault (technical coordination, Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages), Tommy Berger (technical assistance, Université de Montréal), Nicolás Arias García (technical assistance, Université de Montréal), and Nicolas Duval (fieldwork assistance, language recording, technical assistance, Université de Montréal), Gregory D. S. Anderson and K. David Harrison (Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages).
More information about this language can be found in the following ELAR deposit at SOAS: https://elar.soas.ac.uk/Collection/MPI1176905
Today, there is a very small but persistent group of people who would like to have their language back. More information about their revitalization efforts can be found here: https://kketoshmekot.org
_________
Tehuelche (aonekko ‘a’ien) es una lengua tchon de la Patagonia que, al momento de la presente documentación, era hablada solo por una persona mayor, fallecida apenas unos pocos meses después. Este proyecto en colaboración tiene como objetivo aumentar la documentación existente y crear un archivo de usos discursivos cotidianos y conversacionales, además de algunas historias personales o de la comunidad. Lo documentado ha sido hecho en función del propósito de la comunidad de reclamar su lengua y sus usos funcionales.