Kashinawa language

Kashinawa
Kashinawa of the Ibuaçu River, Hantxa Kuin
Hãtxa Kuĩ, Hantxa Kuin, Huni Kui
Native toPeru, Brazil
EthnicityKaxinawá people
Native speakers
1,200 (2003–2007)
Panoan
  • Mainline Panoan
    • Nawa
      • Headwaters
        • Kashinawa
Language codes
ISO 639-3cbs
Glottologcash1254
ELPCashinahua

Kashinawa (also spelled Kaxinawá, Kashinawa, Kaxynawa, Caxinawa, Caxinawá, and Cashinahua), or Hantxa Kuin (Hãtxa Kuĩ), is an Indigenous American language of western South America which belongs to the Panoan language family. It is spoken by about 1,600 Kaxinawá in Peru, along the Curanja and the Purus Rivers, and in Brazil by 400 Kaxinawá in the state of Acre.

About five to ten percent of speakers have some Spanish language proficiency, while forty percent are literate and twenty to thirty percent are literate in Spanish as a second language.

Dialects are Brazilian Kashinawa, Peruvian Kashinawa, and the extinct Juruá Kapanawa (Capanahua of the Juruá River) and Paranawa.