Home to 5 dialects represented on Dialect Atlas, spanning 5 language families.
also: Río de la Plata Spanish
The Spanish of Argentina and Uruguay. Distinctive for its voseo verb forms, the sheísmo / zheísmo realisation of <ll>/<y>, and a strong Italian-influenced intonation.
also: Mapuche, Araucanian
The language of the Mapuche people, spoken across south-central Chile and adjacent Argentina. The largest Indigenous language of Chile and one of South America's most documented language isolates.
also: Aonekko ʼaʼien, Aonikenk
The last spoken Chonan language, of the Patagonian steppe in Santa Cruz province, southern Argentina. Died with Dora Manchado in 2019, taking the Chonan family with it as a living lineage; recorded in her final years by Javier Domingo, building on Ana Fernández Garay's documentation.
A Guarani variety distinct from Paraguayan Guaraní, spoken by the Mbyá people across southern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, and north-eastern Argentina. The most widely spoken Indigenous Guaraní variety in Brazil.
also: Yámana, Yágankuta
A language isolate of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, around the Beagle Channel and Navarino Island. Source of the famously untranslatable word mamihlapinatapai; recorded in a 32,000-word missionary dictionary by Thomas Bridges. Died with Cristina Calderón in 2022; heritage revival continues at Puerto Williams.