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Chimuan languages

Proposed Andean language family From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Chimuan (also Chimúan) or Yuncan (Yunga–Puruhá, Yunca–Puruhán) is a hypothetical small extinct language family of northern Peru and Ecuador (inter-Andean valley).

Quick Facts Chimúan, Geographic distribution ...
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Family division

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Chimuan consisted of three attested languages:

  • Chimuan
    • Mochica (a.k.a. Yunga, Chimú)
    • Cañar–Puruhá
      • Cañari (a.k.a. Cañar, Kanyari)
      • Puruhá (a.k.a. Puruwá, Puruguay)

All languages are now extinct.

Campbell (2012) classifies Mochica and Cañar–Puruhá each as separate language families.[1]

Mochica was one of the major languages of pre-Columbian South America. It was documented by Fernando de la Carrera and Middendorff in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries respectively. It became extinct ca. 1950, although some people remember a few words. Adelaar & Muysken (2004) consider Mochica a language isolate for now.

Cañari and Puruhá are documented with only a few words. These two languages are usually connected with Mochica. However, as their documentation level is so low, it may not be possible to confirm this association. According to Adelaar & Muysken (2004), Jijón y Caamaño's evidence of their relationship is only a single word: Mochica nech "river", Cañari necha; based on similarities with neighboring languages, he finds a Barbacoan connection more likely.

Quingnam, possibly the same language as Lengua (Yunga) Pescadora, is sometimes taken to be a dialect of Mochica, but it is unattested, unless a list of numerals discovered in 2010 turns out to be Quingnam or Pescadora as expected. Those numerals are not, however, Mochica.

Mason (1950)

Yunca-Puruhán (Chimuan) internal classification by Mason (1950):[2]

  • Yunca–Puruhán
    • Yuncan
      • North group (Puruhá-Cañari)
        • Puruhá
        • Canyari (Cañari)
        • Manabila (Mantenya)
      • South group (Yunca)
        • Yunga
        • Morropé
        • Eten (?)
        • Chimu
        • Mochica (Chincha)
        • Chanco
    • Atalán
      • Wancavilca (Huancavilca)
        • Mania
        • Tumbez
        • Puna
        • Carake: Apichiki, Cancebi

Mason (1950) also included Atalán, which is no longer considered to be part of the Yunca-Puruhán (Chimuan) family.

Tovar (1961)

Tovar (1961),[3] partly based on Schmidt (1926),[4] adds Tallán (Sechura–Catacao) to Chimuan (which he calls Yunga-Puruhá). Tovar's (1961) classification below is cited from Stark (1972).[5]

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Proposed external relationships

Stark (1972) proposed a Maya–Yunga–Chipayan macrofamily linking Mayan with Uru–Chipaya and Yunga (Mochica).[5]

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for the Chimuan languages.[6]

More information gloss, Chimú ...

See also

References

Further reading

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