Wichí people

The Wichí are an indigenous people in South America. It is composed of a variety of groups living on simple material basis in Argentina and Bolivia at the headwaters of the Río Bermejo and the Pilcomayo River.

Name

The Spaniards this ethnic group designated in the colonization as " Mataco ", and even today they are still often called that. The origin of this name is unclear, different sources consider him disparagingly, the Wichí itself The name " Wichí " itself is / wi'ci / spoken, the language of their people " Wichí Lhamtés " ( / wi'ci ɬam'tes / ).

In some areas of Bolivia, the name " Wichi " is pronounced as / wik ˠ iʡ /, where to designate the groups themselves as " Weenhayek " ( / wik ˠ i / ), which Alvarsson translated as " the other people" ( plural " Weenhayey "). Alvarsson further reports that according to reports Weenhayey his interlocutors the original name of their people " Olhamelh " ( / oɬameɬ / ) was, which translates to " We " means. For individual subgroups within the Wichí different names in the literature have been used: " Nocten " or " Octenay " in Bolivia, " Vejo " or ( perhaps more accurately ) Wejwus or Wehwos for individual groups in the West, and Güisnay for individual groups in the east in Argentina. The latter correspond to the Tewoq - ɬelej, the "river people".

Population

The individual groups of Wichí are currently distributed as follows over the countries of Argentina and Bolivia:

• Argentina: 18 groups in the northwestern part of the province of Chaco, about 180 kilometers northwest of the town of Juan José Castelli.
• Numerous groups in the province of Formosa, in the departments Bermejo (15 groups ), Matacos (10 groups ), Patiño (7 groups ) and Ramón Lista (33 groups ).
• Other groups settled in the province of Salta, in the departments of San Martín (21 groups ), Rivadavia (57 groupings, but some of which consist of only a few people), Oran, Metán (2 groups ) and Anta (3 groups ), of which the last three very isolated life; and in the province of Jujuy, in the departments of Santa Bárbara, San Pedro and Ledesma.

Language

Since no reliable data on the number of Wichí - speaking people are present, their number can only be estimated. If you compare different source data, one can start from about 40,000 to 50,000 people. The Argentine Institute INDEC ( National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina ) gives a figure of 36.135 for Argentina. Alvarsson estimated for Bolivia the number on 1700-2000, a census came up with the number of 1,912, and Diez Astete and Riester estimated in 1996 2300-2600 Weenhayek in 16 groups.

After Najlis and Gordon can be in the Wichí group three main dialects differ: Vejo ( Wehwós ) in the southwest, Güisnay ( Weenhayek ) in the northeast and Nocten ( Oktenay ) in the northwest. In contrast, speak Tovar and other authors of only two dialects in the northeast and southwest, while Braunstein eleven different ethnic subgroups.

The Wichí language is especially rich endung and polysynthetic; spoken words have 2 to 15 morphemes. Possessive and nichtbesitzanzeigende relations are distinguished. The number of phonetic sounds is extensive, with simple, glottal closure and breathy and Sonor sounds. Depending on the dialect, there are five or six vowel sounds.