Mochica language

Not to be confused with Uru of Ch'imu or Moche.

Mochica is an extinct language formerly spoken along the northwest 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.

Mochica
Yunga
Native to	Peru
Region	Lambayeque, and Jequetepeque
Ethnicity	Sican culture
Extinct	c. 1920
Revival	exist[1]
Language family	Language isolate
Language codes
ISO 639-3	omc
Linguist List	omc
Glottolog	moch1259
Approximate extent of Mochica before replacement by Spanish.

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

The yunga form is mentioned in the work of Fernando de la Carrera, "yunca" is another form mentioned by varieties of Quechua, "muchic" is only mentioned by the Augustinian father Antonio de la Calancha in 1638, in 1892 Ernst Middendorf it germanizes as "muchik", the form "chimu" is a hypothesis on the part of Middendorf in accordance with the knowledge of that time in the 19th century, when he considered Mochica as a language of the Chimos, but which is currently discarded because the language of the Chimú is actually the Quingnam language.^{[citation needed]} An informal group called by linguistics neo-mochica uses the artificial form "muchik", when the most historically used form is "mochica" or "yunga".

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.^[5]

Speakers

Funerary mask from Batán Grande (Sican culture).

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]}

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

Distribution of the Mochica language according to the Art of the Yunga language

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: James, Magdalene of Cao, Chocope, Chicama valley, Paijan.
• In the corregimiento of Saña: St. Peter of Lloc, Chepen, Jequetepeque, Guadalupe, New Town, Eten, Chiclayo, St. Michael, St. Lucia, Parish of Saña, Lambayeque with four rooms, Reque, Monsefú, Ferreñafe, Tucum, Illimo, Pacora, Morrope 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.^[6]

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar		Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Plosive		p	t			c	k
Affricate			ts		tʃ
Fricative		ɸ	ð	s	ʃ
Nasal		m	n			ɲ	ŋ
Trill			r
Lateral	glide		l			ʎ
	fricative		ɬ
Approximant		w				j

• /ð/ may also be heard as [d̪] in free variation.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ ~ ə	u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

• /ɨ/ may also range to [ə].^[7]

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):^[8]

• sequential suffix: -top
• purpose suffix: -næm
• gerund suffixes: -læc and -ssæc
• gerund suffix: -(æ)zcæf
• gerund suffix: -(æ)d

Lexicon

Some examples of lexical items in Mochica from Hovdhaugen (2004):^[8]

Nouns

Possessed and non-possessed nouns in Mochica:

gloss	possessed noun	non-possessed noun
'lord'	çiec	çiequic
'father'	ef	efquic
'son'	eiz	eizquic
'nostrils'	fon	fænquic
'eyes'	locɥ	lucɥquic
'soul'	moix	moixquic
'hand'	mæcɥ	mæcɥquic
'farm'	uiz	uizquic
'bread, food'	xllon	xllonquic
'head'	falpæng	falpic
'leg'	tonæng	tonic
'human flesh'	ærqueng	ærquic
'ear' (but med in medec 'in the ears')	medeng	medquic
'belly, heart' (pol and polæng appear to be equivalents)	polæng / pol	polquic
'lawyer'	capæcnencæpcæss	capæcnencæpæc
'heaven'	cuçias	cuçia
'dog'	fanuss	fanu
'duck'	felluss	fellu
'servant'	ianass	yana
'sin'	ixllæss	ixll
'ribbon'	llaftuss	llaftu
'horse'	colæd	col
'fish'	xllacæd	xllac
'(silver) money'	xllaxllæd	xllaxll
'maiz'	mangæ	mang
'ceiling'	cɥapæn	cɥap
'creator'	chicopæcæss	chicopæc
'sleeping blanket'	cunur	cunuc
'chair' (< fel 'to sit')	filur	filuc
'cup' (< man 'to drink, to eat')	manir	manic
'toy' (< ñe(i)ñ 'to play')	ñeñur	ñeñuc

Locative forms of Mochica nouns:

noun stem	locative form
fon 'nostrils'	funæc 'in the nostrils'
loc 'foot'	lucæc 'on the feet'
ssol 'forehead'	ssulæc 'in the forehead'
locɥ 'eye'	lucɥæc 'in the eyes'
mæcɥ 'hand'	mæcɥæc 'in the hand'
far 'holiday'	farræc 'on holidays'
olecɥ 'outside'	olecɥæc 'outside'
ssap 'mouth'	ssapæc 'in the mouth'
lecɥ 'head'	lecɥæc 'on the head'
an 'house'	enec 'in the house'
med 'ear'	medec 'in the ears'
neiz 'night'	ñeizac 'in the nights'
xllang 'sun'	xllangic 'in the sun'

Quantifiers

Quantifiers in Mochica:

quantifier	meaning and semantic categories
felæp	pair (counting birds, jugs, etc.)
luc	pair (counting plates, drinking vessels, cucumbers, fruits)
cɥoquixll	ten (counting fruits, ears of corn, etc.)
cæss	ten (counting days)
pong	ten (counting fruits, cobs, etc.)
ssop	ten (counting people, cattle, reed, etc., i.e. everything that is not money, fruits, and days)
chiæng	hundred (counting fruits, etc.)

Numerals

Mochica numerals:

Numeral	Mochica
1	onæc, na-
2	aput, pac-
3	çopæl, çoc-
4	nopæt, noc-
5	exllmætzh
6	tzhaxlltzha
7	ñite
8	langæss
9	tap
10	çiæcɥ, -pong, ssop, -fælæp, cɥoquixll
20	pacpong, pacssop, etc.
30	çocpong, çocssop, etc.
40	nocpong, nocssop, etc.
50	exllmætzhpong, exllmætzhssop, etc.
60	tzhaxlltzhapong, tzhaxlltzhassop, etc.
70	ñitepong, ñitessop, etc.
80	langæsspong, langæssop, etc.
90	tappong, tapssong, etc.
100	palæc
1000	cunô

Sample text

Sheet music for the tonada del chimo.

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

— ^[9]

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

It was common in the 19th century to relate Mochica mainly to Mandarin, Japanese^[10] and Quechua.^[11] Currently it is discarded and is considered an isolated language.^[12] A simple way to check this is to use its our fathers for comparative linguistic purposes:

Verse in Matthew 6	Mochica of the "Art of the Yunga Language"[13]	Quechua[14]	Japanese[15]	Chinese[16]	English[17]
9	Mæich ef, acaz loc cuçiang nic, tzhæng oc mang licæm mæcha	Yayayku, hanaq pachakunapi kaq. Sutiyki muchasqa kachun.	ten ni mashimasu warera no chichi yo, negawaku wa, mi na wo agamesase tamae.	wǒmen zaì tiān shang de fù, yuàn rén dōu zūn nǐde míng wéi shèng .	Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10	piycan ñof tzhæng cuçias, eiæpmang tzhæng polæng mæn, mo æizi capæc cuçiang nic mæn.	Qapaq kayniyki ñuqaykuman hamuchun. Munayniyki rurasqa kachun, imanam hanaq pachapihinataq, kay pachapipas.	Mi kuni wo kitarase tamae. Mi kokoro no ten ni naru gotoku, chi ni mo nasase tamae.	Yuàn nǐde guó jiànglín, yuàn nǐde zhǐyì xíng zaì dì shang, rútóng xíng zaì tiān shang .	Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
11	Aio ineng, inengô mæich xllon, piy can ñof allô mo lun.	Punchawninkuna tantaykukta kunan quwayku.	Warera no nichiyō no kate wo kyō mo atae tamae	Wǒmen rìyòng de yǐnshí, jīnrì cìgĕi wǒmen .	Give us this day our daily bread;
12	Efque can ñof ixllæss aie aca naix efco xllãg muss eio mæich, çio mæn.	Huchaykuktari pampachapuwayku, imanam nuqaykupas tutqayktunan huchallikuqlcunakta pampachaykuhina.	Warera ni oime aru mono wo warera ga yurusu gotoku. Warera no oime wo mo yurushi tamae.	Miǎn wǒmen de zhaì, rútóng wǒmen miǎn le rén de zhaì .	And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors;
13	Amoz tocæn ñof xllang muss emællæc zær enicnam næm lecɥ nan ef coñof pissin quich	Amataq kachariwaykuchu watiqayman urmanqaykupaq. Yallinraq, mana allimanta qispichiwayku.	Warera wo kokoromi ni awasezu, aku yori sukui idashi tamae	Bú jiào wǒmen yùjiàn shìtan, jiù wǒmen tuōlí xiōngè, ( huò zuò tuōlí è zhĕ ) yīnwei guódù, quánbǐng, róngyào, quán shì nǐde, zhídào yǒngyuǎn	And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil.

Learning program

The Gestión de Cultura of Morrope in Peru has launched a program to learn this language, in order to preserve the ancient cultural heritage in the area. This program has been well received by people and adopted by many schools, and also have launched other activities such as the development of ceramics, mates, etc.

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.