Kallawaya is an endangered, secret, mixed language in Bolivia. It is spoken by the Kallawaya people, a group of traditional itinerant healers in the Andes in their medicinal healing practice. The language dates back at least to the pre-Inca period. It is a mixed language. The grammar is partially Quechua morphology, but most of its words are from either unknown sources or from an extinct language family, Pukina, and based on Pukina lexicon.

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  • Kallawaya is an endangered, secret, mixed language in Bolivia. It is spoken by the Kallawaya people, a group of traditional itinerant healers in the Andes in their medicinal healing practice. The language dates back at least to the pre-Inca period. It is a mixed language. The grammar is partially Quechua morphology, but most of its words are from either unknown sources or from an extinct language family, Pukina, and based on Pukina lexicon. Pukina, once spoken in the region, was abandoned in favor of Quechua, Aymara or Spanish. Kallawaya is also a secret language, passed only by father to son, or grandfather to grandson, or rarely, to daughters if a practitioner has no sons. It is not passed on for use in normal family dialogue. Although its use is primarily ritual, used secretly for initiated men, Kallawaya may be a part of everyday conversation between those familiar with it. Kallawaya was one of the subjects of the 2008 American documentary film The Linguists, in which two linguists attempted document several moribund languages.
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  • August 2008
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  • Kallawaya is an endangered, secret, mixed language in Bolivia. It is spoken by the Kallawaya people, a group of traditional itinerant healers in the Andes in their medicinal healing practice. The language dates back at least to the pre-Inca period. It is a mixed language. The grammar is partially Quechua morphology, but most of its words are from either unknown sources or from an extinct language family, Pukina, and based on Pukina lexicon.
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  • Kallawaya language
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