Ashéninka Language

These varieties belong to the Campan branch of the Arawak family. Ethnologue distinguishes seven languages throughout the whole complex, while Pedrós proposes a division in three languages (Ashéninka, Asháninka and Northern Ashé-Ashá) based on the principle of mutual intelligibility. The varieties included in Ashéninka and Northern Ashé-Ashá have traditionally been called Ashéninka. Glottolog reflects Pedrós’ proposal, although considering the languages proposed by him as groupings of the languages that the Ethnologue distinguishes.

According to the indigenous peoples database of the Peruvian Ministry of Education, there are 15,281 people living in Ashéninka communities, of whom 8,774 (57%) claim to be able to speak the language. Ethnologue gives much higher figures for the different Ashéninka varieties.

The classification of the different varieties was first established by David Payne in his Apurucayali Axininca grammar, but he referred to them as dialects and not as different languages.^: 3–5

Ashéninka is a locally official language in Peru, as are all native Peruvian languages. It and its relatives are also known by the allegedly pejorative term Campa.

Ashéninka was recognized as a separate language from Asháninka in 2017, and the process to fix an alphabet finished in April 2019 with its approval by the Ministry of Education.

Consonants

Pedrós (2023) shows the following consonant inventory for Ucayali-Pajonal (South Ucayali and Pajonal):

Judith Payne (1989) describes the following consonant inventory for Pichis:

		Bilabial		Apical	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal	Unspecified
		plain	pal.				plain	pal.
Plosives	voiceless	p	pʲ	t			k	kʲ
	aspirated			tʰ
Affricates	voiceless			ts	tʃ
	aspirated			tsʰ	tʃʰ
Fricatives				s	ʃ	(ç)			h
Rhotics				r	rʲ
Nasals		m	mʲ	n		ɲ				N
Approximants		β̞	β̞ʲ			j	ɰ

David Payne (1981) shows the same inventory for the Apurucayali variety, but without the palatalized consonants /pʲ/, /kʲ/, /hʲ/, /mʲ/ and /β̞ʲ/ and with the palatal fricative /ç/.

Mihas shows a similar inventory for the Alto Perené variety with few differences. These are that Mihas does not include neither /tʰ/ nor /ç/; David Payne's contrast /t͡ʃ/-/t͡ʃʰ/ is considered /t͡ʃ/-/tʲ/ by Mihas, and she does not include any palatalized consonant because she considers them two-consonant clusters (Cj). These three varieties are included in Pedrós' Northern Ashé-Ashá group.

Vowels

Judith Payne, Mihas and Pedrós show a four-vowel system /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, while, in David Payne's Apurucayali, there are only three /a/, /i/, /o/. All varieties distinguish between long [Vː] and short vowels without any change in quality.