Shuar
Language · official in 1 country
Shuar means people. The language of the Shuar of Morona Santiago and Pastaza, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, belongs to the small Chicham family and was long called by the slighting name Jivaro. Ecuador's constitution makes Shuar official for intercultural ties; it is official in 1 country on record.
The language on record
- Own name
- Shuar chicham
- ISO 639-3
- JIV
- Script
- Latin
- Family
- Chicham
- Official in
- 1 country
Where Shuar is official
A single record, Ecuador, where Shuar and Kichwa hold official status for intercultural ties beside Spanish, the official language of the state.
Official beside Shuar
About Shuar
A radio school kept Shuar in use
Remoteness in the rainforest of Ecuador scattered the Shuar far from one another, so radio schools set up in the late 1960s taught in Spanish and Shuar, and they turned into a revival of the language without setting out to be one. They closed in 2001 and bilingual classroom teaching took their place.
What does the constitution say in Shuar
The whole Constitution of Ecuador has been translated into Shuar, where it is called Ecuador Nunka Umíktin Umpuarma. Article 2 in the official translation names Spanish as apach chicham and lists kichwa chicham and shuar chicham beside it as languages for intercultural ties. Other ancestral languages are in official use where their peoples live.
The Chicham family also includes Achuar, and its languages are to a high degree mutually intelligible. The 2022 census counted 59,894 Shuar speakers, 4.6% of people speaking an indigenous language in Ecuador.
Common questions
Questions about Shuar
Why is the name Jivaro avoided?
It is a derogatory outside name, also spelled Chiwaro, Jibaro or Xivaro. Shuar, the people’s own word, means people.
What family does Shuar belong to?
Chicham, also called Jivaroan, a small family of the Amazonian lowlands of eastern Ecuador and northern Peru that may be a single isolated language.