The Tehuelche language is spoken by the Tehuelche people southern Argentina, the region of Patagonia. The Tehuelche people were traditionally nomadic hunters from the southern tip of South America, the Tierra del Fuego, living in present-day Argentina and Chile. They have inhabited the area for 12,500 years. However, now their numbers have been reduced to only 200 ethnic Tehuelche in southern Argentina. Of these 200 Tehuelche, only four elderly people speak the language fluently.
The Tehuelche have a rich and unique culture. They are a rather tall people, mostly hunters on the Pampas, and they have interesting traditions. The marriage traditions consist of dowries, the slaughtering of mares, religious festivals, and sacrifices to ward off evil spirits. In the case of a Tehuelche man dying, all of his animals are killed, all of his possessions are burned, and all of the meat from his slaughtered horses is distributed to relatives.
The Tehuelche have a creation legend that goes as follows:
- "For the Tehuelches, Creation was atributed to an ever existing being, who was sorrounded by dense and obscure clouds where the sky and the sea meet. Since he felt very lonely, he burst into tears and cried for a long, unimaginable time. His tears formed the primitive sea, ARROK, the first element in nature. That allmighty eternal god is called KOOCH. When he stopped crying, he gave a deep sigh. His sigh gave origin to the wind, which dissipated the clouds and gave birth to light."
The following link shows a myth of the Tehuelche and a rough English translation, showing the beauty of the language and the imprecision of the translated text, as it doesn't truly define the unique Tehuelche words:
http://books.google.com/books?id=LjPrXSkf8wMC&pg=PA582&dq=tehuelche+language&hl=en&ei=whOqS93pKcGBlAeQlsXRBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=tehuelche%20language&f=false
It is very important to maintain the Tehuelche language as demonstrated by the examples above, and to, in effect, preserve the Tehuelche culture. Culture is manifest in language, and the two intertwine. The Tehuelche are integral to a comprehension of Argentine heritage, especially the nomadic lifestyle, which translated to the present-day gauchos. The language helps keep the lives of the Tehuelche intact. For example, the creation myth above can only be truly understood if one speaks the Tehuelche language and understands the connotations of each world, as there exist fallacies when it is translated. Even though ethnic Tehuelche survive and their traditions are passed down, without a language, their people and culture are not truly alive.
This picture further demonstrates the beauty of the language, and shows that it has greatly been affected by Spanish oral tradition (words such as Dios), echoing the need for its individual preservation:
Resources:http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=teh
http://www.christusrex.com/www1/pater/JPN-tehuelche.html
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/southamerica/tehuelche.html
http://www.bariloche.com.ar/museo/TEHUEING.HTM
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZCYSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA464&dq=tehuelche+language&hl=en&ei=whOqS93pKcGBlAeQlsXRBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=tehuelche%20language&f=false
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