Ayoreo is a Zamucoan language spoken in both Paraguay

Paraguay

Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...

 and Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

. It is also known as Morotoco , Moro, Ayoweo, Ayoré, and Pyeta Yovai. However, the name "Ayoreo" is more common in Bolivia, and "Morotoco" in Paraguay. It is spoken by Ayoreo

Ayoreo

The Ayoreo are a native ethnic group living on Gran Chaco, in an area among rivers Paraguay, Pilcomayo, Parapetí and Grande, stretching both in Bolivia and Paraguay. They speak the Ayoreo language, which is classified under Zamucoan, a small language family of Paraguay and Bolivia...

, an indigenous ethnic group traditionally living on a combined hunter-gatherer

Hunter-gatherer

A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...

 and farming lifestyle.

Classification

Ayoreo is classified as a Zamucoan language, along with Chamacoco

Chamacoco language

Chamacoco is a Zamucoan language spoken in Paraguay and maybe Brazil. It is also known as Xamicoco or Xamacoco, although the tribe itself prefers the name Ishír, which is also spelled Ishiro or Jewyo. It is spoken by a traditionally hunter-gatherer society that has now turned to agriculture...

.

Geographic distribution

Ayoreo is spoken in both Paraguay

Paraguay

Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...

 and Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

, with 3,771 speakers total, 3000 of those in Paraguay and 771 in Bolivia. Within Paraguay, Ayoreo is spoken in the Chaco Department

Chaco Department

The Paraguayan Chaco or Región Occidental is a semi-arid region in Paraguay, with a very low population density.The Chaco is a large geographic area that is sparsely populated. Many of those living in the region are native peoples...

 and the northern parts of the Alto Paraguay Department

Alto Paraguay Department

Alto Paraguay is a sparsely populated department of Paraguay. The capital is the town of Fuerte Olimpo.In 1992 the Chaco Department was merged with Alto Paraguay, effectively recreating the original department Olimpo as it existed until 1945....

. In Bolivia, it is spoken in the Gran Chaco Province

Gran Chaco Province

Gran Chaco is a province in the eastern parts of the Bolivian department Tarija. The province voted to become an autonomous region on 6 December 2009.-Location:Gran Chaco province is one of six provinces in the Tarija Department...

, in the Santa Cruz Department

Santa Cruz Department

Santa Cruz, with an area of 370,621 km², is the largest of the nine constituent departments of Bolivia. In the 2001 census, it reported a population of 2,029,471. The capital is the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The state is one of the wealthiest states in Bolivia with huge reserves of...

.

Phonology

Bertinetto (2009) reports that Ayoreo has the following vowels, which appear both as oral and nasal:

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e		o
Low		a

Grammar

The prototypical constituents order is SVO. Ayoreo is a fusional language. Verb declension is simple and does not present any tense-inflection. Ayoreo is a mood-prominent language. Nouns can be divided into possessable and non-possessable; possessor agreement is expressed through a prefixation.

External links

• Entry for Ayoreo at Rosetta Project The page provides colored linguistic maps (habitat, other language families).
• Sorosoro Project