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Amarakaeri Language (Amarakaéri, Mashco)

Language: Amarakaeri is a Harakmbet language of South America, spoken by 500 people in Peru. Although there are still many Amarakaeri speakers in the community, it is considered an endangered language since few children are being raised to speak it, most families having shifted to using Spanish at home. There are two Amarakaeri dialects, known as Arakmbut and Kisambaeri. Amarakaeri is closely related to the Huachipaeri language, and some linguists consider them to be dialects of the same language as well. Amarakaeri is an agglutinative language with verb-final word order (normally SOV) and complex verb morphology.

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Names: The origin of the name Amarakaeri is unclear. It may have been a corruption of a native band name, most of which end with the suffix "-eri" (which roughly means "people of,") or it may have been the name for the tribe in the language of their Huachipaeri kinfolk. Most of the people today prefer their own name for themselves, Arakmbut; they call their language Arakmbut Háte. This same name is also used by the Huachipaeri to refer to themselves, though, and it is also used by linguists to refer to the family of languages they belong to. For these reasons, "Amarakaeri" is often still used to disambiguate. Mashco, another name that has been used to refer to both Huachipaeri and Amarakaeri people, is disliked by many Amarakaeris, especially elders, who say it was originally a derogatory name used by an enemy tribe. Spelling variants of these tribal names include Amarakaire, Amaracaire, Amaracaeri; Arakmbet, Harakmbut, Harakmbet, Xarangbütn; and Maschco. There have also been many Amarakaeri subgroups, including the Kisambaeri (or Amaiweri), Kareneri (or Careneri), Kochimberi, Kupondirideri (or Küpondirideri), Wintaperi, Wakitaneri, Wandakweri, and Kipodneri.



Amarakaeri Language
Amarakaeri language samples and resources.

Amarakaeri Culture and History
Information and links about the Amarakaeri tribe past and present.



Amarakaeri Language Resources

Our Online Amarakaeri Materials

Amarakaeri Words:
    Our list of vocabulary words in the Amarakaeri language, with comparison to words in other Harakmbet languages.
Amarakaeri Pronunciation Guide:
    How to pronounce Amarakaeri words.
Amarakaeri Animal Words:
    Illustrated glossary of animal words in the Amarakaeri language.
Amarakaeri Body Parts:
    Online and printable worksheets showing parts of the body in the Amarakaeri language.
Amarakaeri Colors:
    Worksheet showing color words in the Amarakaeri language.
Amarakaeri Numbers:
    Worksheet showing how to count in the Amarakaeri language.

Amarakaeri Dictionaries and Language Books for Sale
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Amarakaeri Diccionario
    Spanish-Amarakaeri dictionary for sale online.
Indian Language Dictionaries:
    Native American language books and other materials for sale.

Amarakaeri Language Resources

Peru Linguistic Map * Tribes and Languages of Peru:
    Maps showing the areas in South America where Harakbut (Amarakaeri) is spoken.
Amarakaeri Indian Language * Amarakaeri Language Map * Amarakaeri Orthography * Amarakaeri Pronunciation:
    Amarakaeri Bibliography:
    Scanned-in Amarakeri language materials from the Rosetta Project.
Amarakaeri Alphabet:
    Introduction to the spelling system of the Amarakaeri language.
Amarakaeri Phonology:
    Linguistic chart of phonemes in the Amarakaeri language.
Diccionario Amarakaeri-Castellano:
    Amarakaeri-Spanish dictionary, available online in PDF format.
House of Languages: Harakmbut:
    Information about Harakmbut language usage.
Amarakaeri Language Tree:
    Theories about Amarakaeri's language relationships compiled by Linguist List.
Amarakaeri Language Structures:
    Amarakaeri linguistic profile and academic bibliography.
The Bible in Amarakaeri: * Amarakaeri New Testament:
    Translation of the New Testament into the Amarakaeri language.
Human Rights: Amarakaeri:
    Translation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into Amarakaeri.
Amarakaeri Papers:
    Archive of Amarakaeri language materials in English and Spanish.

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Links, References, and Additional Information

  OLAC: Amarakaeri:
  Reference list of Amarakaeri language materials.
  Wikipedia: Amarakaeri:
  Encyclopedia articles on the Amarakaeri language.
  Idioma Harakbut * La Lengua Amarakaeri * Lenguas Harakmbet * Los Amarakaeri
  Information about the Amarakaeris and their language in Spanish.
  Amarakaeri Resources:
  Amarakaeri links pages.



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