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Mochica language
Extinct language formerly spoken on Peru's northwest coast From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Mochica is an extinct language formerly spoken along the northern coast of Peru and in an inland village. First documented in 1607, the language was widely spoken in the area during the 17th century and the early 18th century. By the late 19th century, the language was dying out and spoken only by a few people in the village of Etén, in Chiclayo. It died out as a spoken language around 1920, but certain words and phrases continued to be used until the 1960s.[2] A revival movement has appeared in recent times.
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Classification
Mochica is usually considered to be a language isolate,[3] but has also been hypothesized as belonging to a wider Chimuan language family. Stark (1972) proposes a connection with Uru–Chipaya as part of a Maya–Yunga–Chipayan macrofamily hypothesis.[4]
Denominations
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Colonial sources record several designations for the language now generally known as Mochica: Yunga, Mochica, Muchic / Muchik, and occasional appellatives such as Pescadora. The choice of name varied according to author, period, and context.
The Franciscan friar Luis Jerónimo de Oré (missionary, polyglot, later bishop of Concepción in Chile) in his Rituale seu Manuale Peruanum (1607) refers to the "Mochica" language and also uses the phrase “Mochica de los Yungas” (en: "Mochica of the Yungas").[5] In the latter case, he seems to distinguish between the language itself —called Mochica— and the northern peoples —denominated Yungas. It is worth noting that at the time Yunga was employed not only as a geographic and climatic term, derived from Quechua exonym yunka (“warm area”), but also to refer to the Mochica as an ethnic group.[6]
In 1644, the diocesan priest and parish vicar of Reque Fernando de la Carrera published the Arte de la lengua yunga (Art of the Yunga Language), the only known colonial grammar of this language, where he consistently used the exonym Yunga.[7] His choice reflects the fact that Yunga was, in the colonial lexicon, the Spanish designation (borrowed from Quechua yunka) for the coastal peoples, regions, and languages.[8]
The Augustinian friar Antonio de la Calancha employed the form Muchic in his Crónica moralizadora (1638).[9] In the nineteenth century, the German physician and philologist Ernst W. Middendorf revived that variant and disseminated it as Muchik in works such as Das Muchik oder die Chimu-Sprache (1892).[10] Middendorf identified the language with that of the Chimú, partly because Quingnam (the actual language of the Chimú kingdom) was at that time poorly documented, whereas colonial references and traces of Mochica still existed. Furthermore, nineteenth-century archaeology often grouped Sicán and Moche material into stages labeled “proto-Chimú” or “early Chimú,” which reinforced the misattribution. Later archaeological and linguistic research clarified these associations.[6] [8]
In sum, Mochica, Yunga, Muchic/Muchik, and occasionally Pescadora appear in the sources and scholarly tradition. Today, Mochica remains the most widely used term in academic literature, while some revitalization projects prefer Muchik, consciously drawing on colonial spellings and nineteenth-century usage.[6]
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Language contact
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Trumai, Arawak, Kandoshi, Muniche, Barbakoa, Cholon-Hibito, Kechua, Mapudungun, Kanichana, and Kunza language families due to contact. Jolkesky (2016) also suggests that similarities with Amazonian languages may be due to the early migration of Mochica speakers down the Marañón and Solimões.[11]
Speakers
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It is proven and accepted by linguists that it was spoken by those of the Sican culture, it is not proven that it was spoken by those of the Moche culture, and it is ruled out that it was spoken by the chimos, since it is proven that they spoke Quingnam.[citation needed]
Learning program
The Cultural Office of the district of Mórrope has launched a program to teach the Mochica language in an effort to preserve the region’s ancient cultural legacy. The initiative has been well received by local residents and adopted by numerous schools. Additional cultural activities—such as the crafting of ceramics and decorated gourds (mates)—have also been introduced as part of the revitalization effort.[12]
Previously considered a dead language, Mochica is now taught in 38 schools and has around 80 speakers.[13]
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Varieties
The only varieties are according to each researcher who compiled their vocabulary, so we have the variety of Ernst Middendorf, Compañon, Bruning, etc.
Geographic distribution
According to the list of the vicar of Reque and author of the aforementioned Art, Fernando de la Carrera, the peoples who in 1644 spoke the Mochica language were as follows:
- In the corregimiento of Trujillo: Santiago, Magdalena de Cao, Chocope, Chicama valley, Paiján.
- In the corregimiento of Saña: San Pedro de Lloc, Chepén, Jequetepeque, Guadalupe, Pueblo Nuevo, Etén, Chiclayo, San Miguel, Santa Lucía, Parish of Saña, Lambayeque with four rooms, Reque, Monsefú, Ferreñafe, Túcume, Illimo, Pacora, Mórrope and Jayanca.
- In the corregimiento of Piura: Motupe, Salas (annex of Penachi), Copis (annex of Olmos), Frías and Huancabamba.
- In the corregimiento of Cajamarca: Santa Cruz, San Miguel de la Sierra, Ñopos, San Pablo, the doctrine of the rafts of the Marañón, a bias of Cajamarca, Cachén, Guambos and many other places in the Cajamarca mountain range, such as the Condebamba valley.[14]
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Phonology
Consonants
- /ð/ may also be heard as [d̪] in free variation.
Vowels
- /ɨ/ may also range to [ə].[15]
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Typology
Mochica is typologically different from the other main languages on the west coast of South America, namely the Quechuan languages, Aymara, and the Mapuche language. Further, it contains rare features such as:
- a case system in which cases are built on each other in a linear sequence; for example, the ablative case suffix is added to the locative case, which in turn is added to an oblique case form;
- all nouns have two stems, possessed and non-possessed;
- an agentive case suffix used mainly for the agent in passive clauses; and
- a verbal system in which all finite forms are formed with the copula.
Morphology
Some suffixes in Mochica as reconstituted by Hovdhaugen (2004):[16]
- sequential suffix: -top
- purpose suffix: -næm
- gerund suffixes: -læc and -ssæc
- gerund suffix: -(æ)zcæf
- gerund suffix: -(æ)d
Lexicon
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Some examples of lexical items in Mochica from Hovdhaugen (2004):[16]
Nouns
Possessed and non-possessed nouns in Mochica:
Locative forms of Mochica nouns:
Quantifiers
Quantifiers in Mochica:
Numerals
Mochica numerals:
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Sample text
The only surviving song in the language is a single tonada, Tonada del Chimo, preserved in the Codex Martínez Compañón among many watercolours illustrating the life of Chimú people during the 18th century:
1st voice: Ja ya llũnch, ja ya llõch
Ja ya llũnch, ja ya lloch [sic]
In poc cha tanmuisle pecan muisle pecan e necam
2nd voice: Ja ya llũnch, ja ya llõch
Ja ya llũnch
1st voice: E menspocehifama le qui
ten que consmuiſle Cuerpo lens
e menslocunmunom chi perdonar moitin Roc
2nd voice: Ja ya llõch
Ja ya llũnh,[sic] ja ya llõch
1st voice: Chondocolo mec checje su chriſto
po que si ta mali muis le cuer po[sic] lem.
lo quees aoscho perdonar
me ñe fe che tas
2nd voice: Ja ya llũnch, ja ya llõch
Ja ya llũnch, ja ya llõch
— [17]
Quingnam, possibly the same as Lengua (Yunga) Pescadora, is sometimes taken to be a dialect, but a list of numerals was discovered in 2010 and is suspected to be Quingnam or Pescadora, not Mochica.
Comparison
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It was common in the 19th century to relate Mochica mainly to Mandarin, Japanese[18] and Quechua.[19] Currently it is discarded and is considered an isolated language.[20] A simple way to check this is to use its our fathers for comparative linguistic purposes:
Further reading
- Brüning, Hans Heinrich (2004). Mochica Wörterbuch / Diccionario mochica: Mochica-castellano, castellano-mochica. Lima: Universidad San Martín de Porres.
- Hovdhaugen, Even (2004). Mochica. Munich: LINCOM Europa.
- Schumacher de Peña, G. (1992). El vocabulario mochica de Walter Lehmann (1929) comparado con otras fuentes léxicas. Lima: UNSM, Instituto de Investigación de Lingüística Aplicada.
References
External links
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