Charruan languages

Charruan
Charruan
Geographic; distribution	Argentina (Entre Ríos Province); Brazil (formerly); Uruguay (formerly)
Ethnicity	Chaná people, Charrúa people, Guenoa people
Extinct	17 September 2026, with the death of Blas Wilfredo Omar Jaime
Linguistic classification	One of the world's primary language families
Proto-language	Proto-Charruan
Subdivisions	Charrúa †; Chaná †; Güenoa †;
Language codes
Glottolog	char1238
Linguasphere	85-DC
	Pre-contact distribution of the Charruan languages
	; Distribution of Charruan languages according to Loukotka (1968).

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.

Internal coherence

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

Chaná as spoken by Blas Wilfredo Omar Jaime
Chaná of Larrañaga (1923)
Charrúa of Vilardebó (1842)
Güenoa from a short 18th-century catechesis quoted by Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro

Languages

Four languages are considered to definitively belong to the Charruan language family, Chaná (Lanték), Mbeguá, Charrúa and Guenoa.

Charruan languages
- Chaná †
- Mbeguá, "Beguá", or "Chaná-Beguá" †
- Charrúa †
- Güenoa (Minuan) †

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.

Proto-language

Consonants

Consonant phonemes of proto-Charruan
p	t	tʃ	t𐞩	k	(ʔ)
	(tʰ)			kʰ
b	d	ʒ	d𐞩	g
(ꞵ)	s	ʃ		x	h
		sʲ
			ɾ
	l	(lʲ)
	r
m	n	ɲ
w		j

Vowels

Vowel phonemes of proto-Charruan
	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

Vocabulary

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

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):

gloss	Chana (Jaime)	Chana (Larrañaga 1923)	Charrúa	Guenoa
we		ampti / am-, rampti		rambui
give	ará	da.jú
sun	dioi	diói
go	nderé	do	bajiná 'to walk'
thou		empti em- / m-
one	gilí / güi	gil: ugil 'único'	yú ~ yu	yut isa 'only one'
who		guareptí		guárete
sand	lgorí	han
mouth	uvá	hek	ej
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	san	sam ~ sán
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	do	bajiná 'to walk'
stand	reé utalá		basquadé 'levantarse'
mouth	uvá	hek	ej
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	san	sam ~ sán
one	gilí / güi	gil: ugil 'único'	yú ~ yu	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	gil: ugil 'único'	yú ~ yu	yut isa 'only one'

References

↑ "Murió Blas Jaime, el último chaná parlante: la historia del hombre que salvó una lengua del silencio". Elonce.com (in Spanish). 2026-09-17. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
1 2 Loukotka, Čestmír (1968), Classification of South American Indian Languages, Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center
↑ La Nación, "Investigan los orígenes de una extraña lengua indígena". 2005-07-01.
1 2 Nikulin, Andrey V. 2019. The classification of the languages of the South American Lowlands: State-of-the-art and challenges / Классификация языков востока Южной Америки. Illič-Svityč (Nostratic) Seminar / Ностратический семинар, Higher School of Economics, October 17, 2019.
↑ Larrañaga, Dámaso Antonio. 1923. Compendio del idioma de la nación chaná. In Escritos de D. Dámaso A. Larrañaga, tomo III, 163-174. Montevideo: Instituto Histórico y Geográfico del Uruguay, Imprenta Nacional.
↑ Hervás y Panduro, Lorenzo. 1787. Saggio Pratico delle lingue. (Idea dell'Universo, XXI.) Cesena: Gregorio Biasini all'Insengna di Pallade. 255pp.
1 2 Barros, J. Pedro Viegas (27–30 March 2012). Breves apuntes sobre fonología comparativa de las lenguas de la familia Charrúa. XIII Congreso de la Sociedad Argentina de Lingüística.
↑ This comparison table is a revision by Br. José Damián Torko Gómez, based on the J.C. Sábat Pébet and J.J. Figueira compilation of all terms known of the "Uruguayan" aboriginal languages. Source: https://www.estudioshistoricos-en.edu.uy/assets/080-boletín-histórico-nº-120---123---año-1969.pdf^{[permanent dead link]}

[1] "Murió Blas Jaime, el último chaná parlante: la historia del hombre que salvó una lengua del silencio". Elonce.com (in Spanish). 2026-09-17. Retrieved 2026-10-13.

[Loukotka-2] 1 2 Loukotka, Čestmír (1968), Classification of South American Indian Languages, Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center

[3] La Nación, "Investigan los orígenes de una extraña lengua indígena". 2005-07-01.

[Nikulin-2019-4] 1 2 Nikulin, Andrey V. 2019. The classification of the languages of the South American Lowlands: State-of-the-art and challenges / Классификация языков востока Южной Америки. Illič-Svityč (Nostratic) Seminar / Ностратический семинар, Higher School of Economics, October 17, 2019.

[5] Larrañaga, Dámaso Antonio. 1923. Compendio del idioma de la nación chaná. In Escritos de D. Dámaso A. Larrañaga, tomo III, 163-174. Montevideo: Instituto Histórico y Geográfico del Uruguay, Imprenta Nacional.

[6] Hervás y Panduro, Lorenzo. 1787. Saggio Pratico delle lingue. (Idea dell'Universo, XXI.) Cesena: Gregorio Biasini all'Insengna di Pallade. 255pp.

[:1-7] 1 2 Barros, J. Pedro Viegas (27–30 March 2012). Breves apuntes sobre fonología comparativa de las lenguas de la familia Charrúa. XIII Congreso de la Sociedad Argentina de Lingüística.

[8] This comparison table is a revision by Br. José Damián Torko Gómez, based on the J.C. Sábat Pébet and J.J. Figueira compilation of all terms known of the "Uruguayan" aboriginal languages. Source: https://www.estudioshistoricos-en.edu.uy/assets/080-boletín-histórico-nº-120---123---año-1969.pdf^{[permanent dead link]}

v t e Languages of Uruguay
Official languages	Spanish
Regional languages	Uruguayan Portuguese
Indigenous languages	Charrúa Chaná Guaraní Güenoa
Minority languages	Arabic English German Italian Lunfardo Plautdietsch Romani Yiddish
Dialects of Spanish	Rioplatense Vesre
Interlanguages	Portuñol
Sign languages	Uruguayan Sign Language
Italics indicate languages no longer spoken in Uruguay

Charruan
Geographic distribution	Argentina (Entre Ríos Province) Brazil (formerly) Uruguay (formerly)
Ethnicity	Chaná people, Charrúa people, Guenoa people
Extinct	17 September 2026, with the death of Blas Wilfredo Omar Jaime
Linguistic classification	One of the world's primary language families
Proto-language	Proto-Charruan
Subdivisions	Charrúa † Chaná † Güenoa †
Language codes
Glottolog	`char1238`
Linguasphere	`85-DC`
Pre-contact distribution of the Charruan languages
Distribution of Charruan languages according to Loukotka (1968).