Chiquitano (Bésɨro)

Chiquitano is a language isolate spoken by about 2,400 people mainly in the Santa Cruz Department in southwastern Bolivia, and in the state of Mato Grosso in western Brazil. In Brazil, it is spoken particularly in the municipalities of Cáceres, Porto Esperidião, Pontes e Lacerda, and Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade in the southwest of Mato Grosso.

Chiquitano is also known as Chiquito, Tarapecosi, Besïro or Bésɨro. Dialects include:

Bésɨro or Lomeriano Chiquitano, which is spoken in around Lomerío and in Concepción in Ñuflo de Chávez Province in the east of the Santa Cruz Department of Bolivia. It has official status and a standard orthography.
Migueleño Chiquitano (ózura), which is spoken in and around San Miguel de Velasco in José Miguel de Velasco Province in the east of the Santa Cruz Department of Bolivia.
Sansimoniano, which is spoken in the northeast of the Beni Deparment in the northeast of Bolivia. This dialect is divergent from the others and is classified as a separate language in some sources.

Various ways to write Chiquitano with the Latin alphabet have been devised by missionaries and others since the colonial era.

Chiquitano alphabet

Download an alphabet chart for Chiquitano (Excel)
Details of the Chiquitano alphabet provided by Wolfram Siegel (PDF)

Sample text

Namanaiña baama osiborisapa aboma iku kix, uxiampae nakaxima, chepatai nikuaxima, aboma aibu ñapanaunkuxima, na uxia uimia imomantoe takanaxti chepe namanaiña yarukityoximantoe.

Sample text (another version of this text)

Nanaiña axima nosiborisapa abe iku kix, uxiampae nubakax, chepatai niyukuax, abe aibu ñupapanaunkux, na uxia oboi ñomeampatoe takanaxti chepe nanaiña nubarukixhatoe.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Sample videos

Information about Chiquitano | Numbers

Links

Information about Chiquitano
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiquitano_language
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Língua_chiquitana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migueleño_Chiquitano
https://pueblosoriginarios.com/lenguas/chiquitano.php
https://www.native-languages.org/chiquitano.htm
https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/chiq1253
http://www.language-archives.org/language/cax
https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject_cax_detail-1?
https://www.academia.edu/49136513/Chiquitano_a_presentation

Language isolates

Adaizan, Ainu, Basque, Burushaski, Candoshi-Shapra, Chiquitano, Chitimacha, Eskayan, Hadza, Haida, Karuk, Kawésqar, Keres, Kuot, Kusunda, Kutenai, Maybrat, Natchez, Nihali, Nivkh, Páez, Purepecha, Sandawe, Seri, Sumerian, Tartessian, Ticuna, Tiwi, Tonkawa, Tunica, Urarina, Waorani, Warao, Wardaman, Washo, Yaghan, Yele, Yuchi/Euchee, Zuni

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page created on 20.05.26. Last modified: 02.06.26

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