Chilean languages

Approximate distribution of indigenous languages at the southern end of South America in times of the Conquest.

Spanish is the official de facto language and the administrative language of Chile, where it is also known as «castellano», spoken by 99.3 % of the population, mostly in the form known as Chilean Spanish and by a few in the forms called Andean Spanish and Chilote Spanish. Despite the fact that there is no official recognition of the Hispanic language at the constitutional level, the Constitution itself, as well as all official documents, are written in this language.

Indigenous people correspond to 4.58% of the Chilean population according to the 2002 census, and some of them speak their languages: Mapudungun is spoken by an estimated number of between 100,000 and 200,000 people; Aymara, by some 20,000; Southern Quechua, by some 8,200; and Rapanui, by some 3,390 people, although it is not specified whether they use them as their first language.

According to Law 19253 of 1993, also known as the "Indigenous Law", indigenous languages have official recognition for their use and conservation, along with Spanish, in the areas where they are spoken. They may be used as a means of instruction, promote media, use of names in the Civil Registry, according to the phonetic transcription rules that are indicated, and their artistic and cultural promotion. Bilingual education programs are also being developed in areas occupied by indigenous communities. However, the reality is far from this ideal and there are only a few isolated projects for the maintenance and promotion of indigenous languages, particularly Mapudungun and Aymara, with varying degrees of success.

Native languages

Indigenous Peoples of Chile in the CenturyXVI.

A significant number of indigenous languages have been spoken in Chile —around fifteen different linguistic varieties that could be considered different languages—. These languages were very varied and in Chile, unlike other South American countries, there is no large family: all the autochthonous languages are either isolated languages or belong to small families of 3 or 4 languages.

Currently spoken indigenous languages

• Mapudungun (arn): Mainly spoken in the regions of Biobío, Araucania, Metropolitana and Los Ríos, for between 100,000 and 200,000 people with different degrees of linguistic competence. Chesungun or Huilliche dialect (huh), spoken by about 2000 Huilliches in the Los Lagos region (1982) is a divergent dialect that some experts consider a language other than Mapudungun.
• Aimara (Aimara)ayr): Speaked by some 20 000 people in the regions of Arica and Parinacota and Tarapacá. It is a variant close to the aimara of Bolivia.
• Chilean Quechua (Chilean Quechua)cqu), one of the varieties of southern Quechua: considered identical to the sudbolivian Quechua (quh), is spoken by about 8200 people in the border area between the region of Antofagasta and Bolivia. Among Peruvian immigrants established in large cities, there are also speakers of different Quechua dialects of Peru.
• Rapanui or Pascuenserap): Used by some 3390 speakers (2000), mostly inhabitants of the Easter Island and a few in cities of the continent, such as Valparaiso or Santiago.

Indigenous languages in danger of extinction

• Kawésqar (alc): Speaked by a dozen people in Puerto Eden.

Extinct indigenous languages

• Aonikenk (teh): Speaked by the aonikenk or tehuelches, disappeared in Chile during the centuryXX. and dying in Argentina, where there are about 4 speakers.
• Cacán: Language spoken by the Diaguita people in the North Chico of Chile.
• Chono: A single record is preserved and speculated with toponyms of Chiloé and the Guaitecas Islands; it may have been a northern dialect of Kawésqar.
• Gününa këna (Gününa këna)pue): Speaked by gününa küne or pork.
• Kunza (kuz): Speaked by the Atacameño people around San Pedro de Atacama, it disappeared during the centuryXX.; they remember a few hundred words and work in ways of recovery.
• Selk'namona): Speaked by the selk'nam on the Big Island of Tierra del Fuego, disappeared in Chile during the centuryXX. and in Argentina during the centuryXXI.
• Yagányag): In Villa Ukika (Puerto Williams), Cristina Calderón lived, the last elderly speaker, who worked on the construction of a dictionary to keep more records of her tongue, died in 2022.

Phylogenetic classification

The autochthonous languages of Chile belong to about four or five proven language families. In addition, another half dozen languages are known, including isolated languages and unclassified languages, many of them extinct today (these are marked with the † sign). The following list includes more than a dozen indigenous languages between living languages and extinct languages in the country:

Alochthonous languages spoken by communities or immigrants

• German (deu): maintained by the descendants of German immigrants who arrived in the south in the middle of the centuryXIX, mainly high standard German (acquired for by school education), but also vernacular forms such as lagunen-deutschfrom the shore of Lake Llanquihue.
• Haitian Criollohat): used by the Haitian community.
• Croatian (hrv): spoken by Croatian immigrant communities, especially in the south of the country.
• English (English)eng): spoken by immigrants and their descendants, especially British and American.
• Italian (ita): spoken within the community of Italian immigrants.
• Quechua: Among immigrants from Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador there are speakers of different Quechua languages, including southern Quechua and Ecuadorian Quechua.
• Roma (Roman)rom): spoken by the Gypsy people or rom -roma in Chile—Romaní vlax (rmy).

Non-verbal and signed languages

• Chilean Sign Languagecsg): used by the deaf community of the country.