Chachapoya language

Chachapoya, or Chacha, is the presumed language of the Chachapoya culture.^[1] It may have been one of the Cahuapanan languages.^[2] The Chachapoya, originally from the region of Kuelap to the east of the Marañón, were conquered by the Inca shortly before the Spanish conquest, and many were deported after the Inca Civil War. They sided with the Spanish and achieved independence for a time, but were then deported again by the Spanish, whereupon most died of introduced disease. The language is essentially unattested apart from toponyms and several hundred family names.

Chacha
Native to	Peru
Region	Marañón River basin
Ethnicity	Chachapoyas
Extinct	(date missing)
Language family	unclassified (Cholon? Cahuapanan?)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	chac1253
Chacha

Phonology

Very little about Chachapoya phonology is known. Voiced stops could occur word-initially, as seen in the names Det, Buelot and Gaslac, suggesting a possible contrast between voiceless and voiced stops, and some consonants seem to be palatalized or velarized, for instance in Guiop [gʲop] and the toponym Cuémal [ˈkʷemal], though this may involve rising diphthongs instead. There seems to be a five-vowel system, [i, u, e, o, a].^[3]

Proper names

Family names

Family names, such as Cam, Hob, Oc~Occ, Sup, Yull are mostly short and monosyllabic, though some involve reduplication, like Pispis or Solsol, or have multiple elements, e.g. Detquisán, Subsolsol, or Visalot. They have been distorted through adaptation to Quechua; for example, the name Surueque or Zuruec became súrix in Quechua. One of the few names which can be identified is Oc or Occ [ox], which according to oral history means 'puma' or 'bear'.^[3]

Toponyms

Chachapoya toponyms ending in -gach(e), -gat(e), -gote are found near water, like in Shíngache and Tóngate. Between the town of Cajamarca and the Marañón river is a similar toponymic element, attested variously as -cat(e), -cot(e), -gat(e), -got(e), with -cat found further across a wider area of northern Peru.^[4] This may be the Cholón word for water; the place name Salcot or Zalcot is found three times in Cajamarca, as well as being the name of a Cholón village meaning 'black water'.^[relevant?]