Charruan languages

The Charruan languages are a language family once spoken in Uruguay and the Argentine province of Entre Ríos. In 2005, a semi-speaker of the Chaná language, Blas Wilfredo Omar Jaime, was found in Entre Ríos Province, Argentina.^[1]

Charruan
Geographic distribution	Argentina (Entre Ríos Province) Brazil (formerly) Uruguay (formerly)
Ethnicity	Chaná people, Charrúa people, Guenoa people
Native speakers	1 rememberer (Chaná) (2024)
Linguistic classification	One of the world's primary language families Charruan
Subdivisions	Charrúa † Chaná Güenoa † Balomar † (unattested)
Language codes
Glottolog	char1238
Pre-contact distribution of the Charruan languages
Distribution of Charruan languages according to Loukotka (1968).

Internal coherence

Charruan may actually consist of two or three unrelated families according to Nikulin (2019).^[2] Nikulin notes that many of the following languages share very few basic vocabulary items with each other.

1. Chaná as spoken by Blas Wilfredo Omar Jaime
2. Chaná of Larrañaga (1923)^[3]
3. Charrúa of Vilardebó (1842)
4. Güenoa from a short 18th-century catechesis quoted by Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro^[4]

Languages

Four languages are considered to definitively belong to the Charruan language family, basically Chañá (Lanték), Nbeuá, Charrúa and Guenoa.^[5] Nbeuá is thought to be a dialect of Chaná. A fourth language, Balomar, is claimed to exist by Loukotka (1968), but there is no data on it.^[5]

• Charruan languages
  • Chaná (†)
    • Chaná proper
    • "Mbeguá", "Beguá", or "Chaná-Beguá"
    • "Timbúes", "Chaná Timbúes", "Timbó", or "Chaná timbó"
  • Charrúa †
  • Güenoa (Minuan) †
  • Balomar (unattested) †

A number of unattested languages are also presumed to belong to the Charruan family:^[5]

• Bohane – spoken near Maldonado, or Salto, in Uruguay
• Calchine – spoken in Santa Fe Province, Argentina, along the Salado River
• Caracañá – spoken along the Caracañá River, Santa Fe
• Chaná-Mbegua or Begua – spoken on the Paraná River between Crespo and Victoria
• Colastiné – spoken in Santa Fe Province near Colastiné
• Corondá – spoken in Coronda, Santa Fe Province
• Guaiquiaré – spoken in Entre Ríos on the Arroyo Guaiquiraré
• Mocoreta or Macurendá or Mocolete – spoken along the Mocoretá River in Entre Ríos Province
• Pairindi – spoken in Entre Ríos from Corrientes to the Feliciano River
• Timbu – spoken in Gaboto, Santa Fe Province
• Yaro – spoken in Uruguay between the Río Negro and the San Salvador River

Genetic relations

Jorge Suárez includes Charruan with Guaicuruan in a hypothetical Waikuru-Charrúa stock. Morris Swadesh includes Charruan along with Guaicuruan, Matacoan, and Mascoyan within his Macro-Mapuche stock. Both proposals appear to be obsolete.

Vocabulary comparison

The Charruan languages are poorly attested. However, sufficient vocabulary has been gathered for the languages to be compared:^[5][6]

English	Charrua	Chaná	Güenoa
me	m'	mi-tí	hum
you	m'	mutí /em/ baté	m
we		rampti/ am-ptí	rambuí
eye	i-hou	ocál
ear	i-mau / i-man	timó
mouth	ej	hek / obá
hand	guar	nam
foot / toe	atit	eté
water	hué	atá
sun		dioi
dog	lohán	agó
white		huok
one	yú	u-gil / ngui	yut
two	sam	usan / amá
three	detí / datit	detit / heít	detit
know	sepé	seker
good / nice	bilú	oblí / oblé
brother/sister	inchalá	nchalá
friend	huamá	uamá
why? / how?		retám	retanle*
who?		ua-reté
past (suf.)		ndau / nden	edam

Lexical comparison from Nikulin (2019):^[2]

gloss	Chana (Jaime)	Charrúa	Chana (Larranaga 1923)	Guenoa
we			ampti / am-, rampti	rambui
give	ará		da.jú
sun	dioi		diói
go	nderé	bajiná 'to walk'	do
thou			empti em- / m-
one	gilí / güi	yú ~ yu	gil: ugil 'único'	yut isa 'only one'
who			guareptí	guárete
sand	lgorí		han
mouth	uvá	ej	hek
that			huati / huat-
white	noá		huóc
good			latár
hear	timotéc		montéc
come	nderé		na
not	reé		=mén
what			r'eca 'what', r'epti	retant 'how many?'
two	amá	sam ~ sán	san
know			seker, sekér
see			solá 'mirar'
mountain			to e
woman	adá		ukái / kái 'female'
I			ytí / i- ~ y-
all	opá
sleep	utalá	ando diabun 'vamos a dormir'
foot	vedé verá	atit
kill	ña	aú
go	nderé	bajiná 'to walk'	do
stand	reé utalá	basquadé 'levantarse'
mouth	uvá	ej	hek
hand	nam	guar
moon	aratá	guidai
water	atá	hué
nose	utí	ibar
eye	ocál	ijou
ear	timó	imau
head	ta ~ ta ug vedé	is
hair	moni	itaj
fire	yogüín	it
dog	agó	samayoí
two	amá	sam ~ sán	san
one	gilí / güi	yú ~ yu	gil: ugil 'único'	yut isa 'only one'
person				ëewuit edam
who			guareptí	guárete
die	ña			hallen
name				hapatam 'his name'
we			ampti / am-, rampti	rambui
what			r'eca 'what', r'epti	retant 'how many?'
one	gilí / güi	yú ~ yu	gil: ugil 'único'	yut isa 'only one'