Nivaclé

Nivaclé
Nivaclé woven pouch, AMNH
Total population
15,000–25,000 (2007)
Regions with significant populations
Paraguay13,700 (1991)
Argentina878 (2022)
Bolivia100
Languages
Nivaclé, Spanish
Religion
Animism, Christianity

The Nivaclé are an Indigenous people of the Gran Chaco. An estimated 13,700 Nivaclé people live in the President Hayes and Boquerón Departments in Paraguay, while approximately 200 Nivaclé people live in the Salta Province of Argentina. A very small number of Nivaclé live in Tarija, Bolivia.

Nivaclé people dancing 1908.

In the last 50 years, 15,000 Mennonites from Canada, Russia, and Germany have settled in traditional Nivaclé territory.

Groups

They have five subgroups, which are as follows:

Name

Nivaclé is an autonym, meaning "human." They are also known as the Ashlushlay [aɬuɬaj], Axluslay, Chulupí, and Nivaklé people.

Language

They speak the Nivaclé language, which has two dialects: Forest Nivaclé and River Nivaclé. Nivaclé is one of the Mataco-Guaicuru languages. A dictionary has been published for the language, and the Bible was translated into Nivaclé in 1995.

Notes

  1. 1 2 "Introduction." Nivaclé Foundation. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Nivaclé." Ethnologue. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  3. ↑ "Censo 2022" [Census 2022]. Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos, República Argentina. INDEC. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 "Nivaclé - Orientation." Countries and Their Cultures. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  5. ↑ Gutiérrez, Analía (2015). Segmental and prosodic complexity in Nivaĉle : laryngeals, laterals, and metathesis (Thesis). University Of British Columbia. doi:10.14288/1.0166445.