Contents

Uru language

Uru
Iru Itu
Uchumataqu
Native to	Bolivia
Region	Lake Titicaca, near the Desaguadero River
Ethnicity	230 Uru people (2007)[1]
Extinct	2010 to 2012[1]
Language family	Uru–Chipaya Uru
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ure
Glottolog	uruu1244
ELP	Uru
Uru is classified as Extinct be the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger [2]
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The Uru language, more specifically known as Iru-Itu, and Uchumataqu, is an extinct language formerly spoken by the Uru people. In 2004, it had 2 remaining native speakers out of an ethnic group of 140 people in the La Paz Department, Bolivia near Lake Titicaca, the rest having shifted to Aymara and Spanish. The language is close enough to the Chipaya language to sometimes be considered a dialect of that language.^{[citation needed]}

Uru is also called Ochosuma (Uchuzuma), a historical name for the Uru ethnic group.^[3]

In 2010, there was 1 single native speaker left of this language. By 2012 the language had no speakers left.

Olson (1964) mentions a variety of Uru, Uru of Ch'imu, spoken on the Isla del Sol in Lake Titicaca. It is not clear if this was a dialect of Iru Itu or a separate Uru language.

Identifying Uchumataqu[edit]

Since one of the Urus' names for their language was "Pukina", Uchumataqu has previously been mistakenly identified with Puquina.^[4] While the personal and possessive pronouns of the unrelated Puquina bear limited similarities to those of Arawakan languages,^[5] Uru differs drastically from Arawakan languages in its person-marking system and its morphology.^[4] The pronoun system of Uchumataqu is naturally very similar instead to its close relative Chipaya.^[6] Uchumataqu has also borrowed grammatical and lexical morphemes from prolonged exposure to Aymara,^[4] with which it is not related, however. Unlike Aymara, Uru is not polysynthetic and has a phonemic five-vowel system /a e i o u/, while Aymara has a three-vowel system /a i u/.^[4] One contrast between Uru and the related Chipaya is that Uru does not identify gender morphologically as Chipaya does.^[6]

Phonology[edit]

Consonants[edit]

Vowels[edit]

^[7][8]

References[edit]