Tags: Language.
Tehuelche (Aoniken Inaquen Gunua-Kena Gununa-Kena) is an moribund Chon language of Patagonia. Its speakers were nomadic hunters who occupied territory in present-day Chile north of Tierra del Fuego and south of the Mapuche people. It is also known as Aonikenk or Aonek’o ‘ajen. The decline of the language started with the Araucanization of Patagonia when many Tehuelche tribes adopted Mapudungun as their main language.