Lule language

Campbell (1997) writes that in 1981 there was an unconfirmed report that Lule is still spoken by 5 families in Resistencia in east-central Chaco Province.

[2] Lule appears to be distantly related to the still-spoken Vilela language, together forming a small Lule–Vilela family.

Kaufman (1990) finds this relationship likely and with general agreement among the major classifiers of South American languages.

There were three distinct groups known as Lulé: In 1586 Father Alonson Bárzana (Bárcena) wrote a grammar of Tonocote, which is now lost.

In 1732 Antonio Maccioni (Machoni), who was not aware of Bárzana's grammar, wrote one of his own, Arte y vocabulario de la lengua lule y tonocoté ('Art and vocabulary of the language of the Lule and Tonocote') of the Lule-Tonocote language at the mission San Esteban de Miraflores.