Tallán language

Tallán is an extinct and poorly attested language of the Piura Region of Peru. It is too poorly known to be definitively classified. It may have a possible connection to neighboring Sechura, termed the Sek languages. In Glottolog and in Jolkesky (2016), the two attested Catacaoan languages, Catacao and Colán, are listed as dialects of Tallán.^[2][1]

Tallán
Native to	Peru
Region	Piura Region
Ethnicity	Tallán
Extinct	early 19th century[1]
Language family	Sek? Tallán
Dialects	Catacao Colán
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	tall1235
Tallán

Dialects

Mason (1950) lists Apichiquí, Cancebí, Charapoto, Pichote, Pichoasac, Pichunsi, Manabí, Jarahusa, and Jipijapa as dialects of Atalán.^[3] Rivet (1924) lists Manta, Huancavilca, Puna, and Tumbez within an Atalán family.^[4]

Loukotka (1968) makes reference both to Tallán and the Catacaoan language family, treating Tallán as related to Sechura but Catacaoan as a distinct family. He lists the following three languages:

• Catacao or Katakao, once spoken around the city of Catacaos
• Colán or Kolán, once spoken between the Piura River and Chira River
• Chira or Lachira or Tangarará, once spoken along the Chira River. It is unattested.^[5]
• Terrence Kaufman includes the Leco language in the Catacaoan group.

Catacao and Colán are frequently subsumed into the extinct Tallán language as dialects, thus making the Catacaoan family synonymous with Tallán.^[6][7][8] Loukota compares Catacaoan to the Culle language and the Sechura language but distinguishes them from all other families.^[9]

Further reading

• Ramos Cabredo, J. (1950). Ensayo de un vocabulario de la lengua Tallán o Tallanca. Cuadernos de Estudio del Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, 3:11-55. Lima: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.