Chimuan languages

Chimúan
Yuncan, Yunga-Puruhá
(not widely accepted)
Geographic
distribution		Peruvian coast
Linguistic classificationProposed language family
Subdivisions
Language codes
GlottologNone
Linguasphere84-AA

Chimuan (also Chimúan) or Yuncan (Yunga–Puruhá, Yunca–Puruhán) is a hypothetical small extinct language family of northern Peru and Ecuador in the inter-Andean valley. They are held to comprise the Mochica (Yunga), Cañari–Puruhá, and Huancavilca.

Family division

Chimuan is proposed to be consisted of at least three attested languages:

All languages are now extinct.

Campbell (2012) classifies Mochica and Cañari–Puruhá each as separate language families.

Mochica was one of the major languages of pre-Columbian South America. It was documented by Fernando de la Carrera and Middendorf in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries respectively. It became extinct around 1920, although some people remembered a few words into the late 20th century. Most scholars consider Mochica a language isolate.

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, considered the same language as the lengua pescadora, was sometimes erroneously taken to be a dialect of Mochica, but it is effectively unattested, excepting a list of numerals discovered in 2010 thought likely to be of Quingnam or Pescadora as expected. These numerals are not, however, Mochica.

Mason (1950)

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

  • 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) added Atalán to the family.

Tovar (1961)

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

Proposed external relationships

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

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jijón y Caamaño, Jacinto (1919). Contribución al conocimiento de las lenguas indígenas que se hablaron en el Ecuador interandino y occidental con anterioridad a la conquista española: ensayo provisional. Quito, Ecuador.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ↑ Campbell, Lyle (2012). "Classification of the indigenous languages of South America". In Grondona, Verónica; Campbell, Lyle (eds.). The Indigenous Languages of South America. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 2. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 59–166. ISBN 978-3-11-025513-3.
  3. ↑ Mason, John Alden (1950). "The languages of South America". In Steward, Julian (ed.). Handbook of South American Indians. Vol. 6. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143. pp. 157–317.
  4. ↑ Tovar, Antonio (1961). Catálogo de las lenguas de América del Sur, pp. 162-165. Buenos Aires.
  5. ↑ Schmidt, Wilhelm (1926). Die Sprachfamilien und Sprachenkreise der Erde, p. 214. Heidelberg.
  6. 1 2 Stark, Louisa R. (1972). "Maya-Yunga-Chipayan: A New Linguistic Alignment". International Journal of American Linguistics. 38 (2): 119–135. doi:10.1086/465193. ISSN 0020-7071. S2CID 145380780.

Further reading