We received sad news today. On January 4th 2019, the last speaker of Tehuelche passed away. Her name was Dora Manchado, and she was beloved by her community and those who knew her. Tehuelche [teh], also known as Aonekko to local community members, or Patagonian to historians, is a language from the southernmost tip of South America. It was the language that Magellan heard when he encountered speakers in Patagonia in 1520.

Anthropologist Javier Domingo (Université de Montréal) had the opportunity to work with Dora Manchado for the last few years of her life. We know Javier because we have been collaborating with him on the first-ever Tehuelche Talking Dictionary. Here are Javier’s reflections about Dora’s passing:

“Despite history, the Tehuelche language was still remembered by Dora Manchado, who passed away only a few days ago. She was regarded as the “last speaker” of this language as well as the spirit of the Tehuelche ethnic recognition and revival.

I had the pleasure (and the hard task) of working with her as an anthropologist. Dora was probably a “very bad informant” and thanks to this beautiful quality, she taught me that language is not something that can be written down, stored, or “saved”.

She knew perfectly well that language not only means interaction, but also trust, complicity, naughtiness, and intimacy. She proved to me that language means sharing, and company. Thanks to the recordings she made, the rest of the community members now have, if they want, the possibility of affirming their past and reconstructing their identity.

Nakl, Dora, pai ‘eneguem.”

– Javier Domingo, January 7th, 2019.

You can also view Javier’s original blog post about Dora’s passing here on the Tehuelche community’s website, which includes an excellent video he created using recordings of her voice.