The original Atacameño language is called Kunza.
In the XIXth century, as the German traveler Philippi describes (1858), the language was spoken by:
« A population of three or four thousand souls, speaking it only in places such as: San Pedro de Atacama, Toconao, Soncor, Socaire, Peine, Antofagasta, and some other small places of the Chiuchiu canton. There was a time in which the Atacameno's language was also spoken in Chiuchiu and Calama, but now, the Spanish language is spoken it in these towns and only very old people still understand the language of their ancestors ».
Today, Kunza is practically a dead language, used only in ceremonies and ritual songs. A program for the recovery of Kunza is being carried out in some local schools.