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About

Kallawaya is an endangered language spoken in the Andes of Bolivia. The language is known as a “secret” language, because it is not passed through families, and it can only be learned as a second language. It is spoken only by traditional ritualistic male healers in order to keep recipes, herbal medicine, and medicinal plants secret from normal people. Since the healers were not able to hide the tangible plants or medicines, they realized that they could keep the information a secret with the creation of a language that only they would understand. The line of healers is patriarchal, and is almost always passed from fathers to sons. However, in very rare cases, if the family has no male children, the language will be taught to a girl. Although the language is used for traditional purposes, it is also commonly used for normal conversation between speakers. Kallawaya is based on the grammatical structure of the Quechua language, and much of the vocabulary and lexical base are derived from an extinct language that was related to the Puquina language, which is also extinct. It is unknown how many speak the language, but it is believed that around 100-200 people are fluent speakers at the moment. There have been recordings in the language, but the language is otherwise very poorly documented.

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Also known as: Callahuaya, Callawalla, Pohena

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Language Family: Mixed (Quechua, Puquina)

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Written Alphabet: None 

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Category: Critically Endangered  

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Speakers: Between 100 and 200

Video Recordings
More Info

KALLAWAYA

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