Huilliche

Facts

  • Language: Huilliche
  • Alternate names: Williche, Veliche, Huiliche, Beliche, Huilche, Mapuche, Chesungun, Chedungun, Tsesungun, Chesumun, Tsesumun,
  • Language code: huh
  • Language family: Mapudungu (SIL classification)
  • Number of speakers:
  • Vulnerability: Dormant
  • Script:

More information:

    Campbell (2012:97): Willem Adelaar (personal communication) points out that Huilliche (“Beliche”, Veliche, Huiliche), often considered a dialect of Mapudungun, is likely a separate language. Crevels (2012:190): Huilliche is related to Mapuche, but barely intelligible with it.Although they appear in some Colonial texts, the alternate names Huilche and Huiliche are deemed incorrect by some, as the graphemes "l" and "ll" represent distinct phonemes in this language. Writing the name of the language as "Huiliche" rather than "Huilliche" changes the meaning of the term substantially, signifying something like "people of the nail" rather than "people of the south."