Barbacoan languages
Encyclopedia
Barbacoan is a language family spoken in Colombia
and Ecuador
.
Pasto, Muellama, Coconuco, and Caranqui are now extinct
.
Pasto and Muellama are usually classified as Barbacoan, but the current evidence is weak and deserves further attention. Muellama may have been one of the last surviving dialect
s of Pasto (both extinct, replaced by Spanish) — Muellama is known only by a short wordlist recorded in the 19th century. The Muellama vocabulary is similar to modern Awa Pit. The Cañari–Puruhá languages
are ever more poorly attested, and while often placed in a Chimuan
family, were perhaps more likely Barbacoan.
The Coconucan languages were first connected to Barbacoan by Daniel Brinton in 1891. However, a subsequent publication by Henri Beuchat and Paul Rivet placed Coconucan together with a Paezan family (which included Páez
and Paniquita) due a misleading "Moguex" vocabulary list. The "Moguex" vocabulary turned out to be a mix of both Páez and Guambiano languages (Curnow 1998). This vocabulary has led to misclassifications by Greenberg (1956, 1987), Loukotka (1968), Kaufman (1990, 1994), and Campbell (1997), among others. Although Páez may be related to the Barbacoan family, a conservative view considers Páez a language isolate
pending further investigation. Guambiano is more similar to other Barbacoan languages than to Páez, and thus Key (1979), Curnow et al. (1998), and Gordon (2005) place Coconucan under Barbacoan. The moribund Totoró is sometimes considered a dialect of Guambiano instead of a separate language, and, indeed, Adelaar & Muysken (2004) state that Guambiano-Totoró-Coconuco is best treated as a single language.
Caranqui was replaced by Quechua
, perhaps surviving as late as the 18th century. Caranqui seems to have influenced Imbabura Quechua. There are similarities between Caranqui and Pasto and also between Caranqui and Tsafiki. Caranqui is often classified as Barbacoan but the evidence is not conclusive due its poor documentation.
. Barbacoan is often connected with the Paezan languages
(including Páez); however, Curnow (1998) shows how much of this proposal is based on misinterpretation of an old document of Douay (1888). (See: Paezan languages
.)
Other more speculative larger groupings involving Barbacoan include the Macro-Paesan "cluster", the Macro-Chibchan
stock, and the Chibchan-Paezan stock.
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
and Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
.
Family division
Barboacoan consists of 6 languages:- Northern
- AwanAwan languagesThe Awan languages are Barbacoan languages that include the Awa Pit language and the Pasto languages spoken in Ecuador and Colombia. Pasto is extinct....
(also known as Awa)
-
-
- Awa Pit (also known as Cuaiquer, Coaiquer, Kwaiker, Awá, Awa, Telembi, Sindagua, Awa-Cuaiquer, Koaiker, Telembí)
- Pasto–Muellama
-
- Pasto (also known as Past Awá) (†) ??
- Muellama (also known as Muellamués, Muelyama) (†) ??
- CoconucanCoconucan languagesCoconuco Guambiano is a dialect cluster of Colombia. Though the three varieties, Guambiano, moribund Totoró, and the extinct Coconuco, are traditionally called languages, Adelaar & Muysken believe that they are best treated as a single language....
(also known as Guambiano–Totoró)
- Coconucan
- Guambiano (also known as Mogües, Moguez, Mogés, Wam, Misak, Guambiano-Moguez, Wambiano-Mogés, Moguex)
- Totoró (also known as Polindara)
- Coconuco (also known as Kokonuko, Cauca, Wanaka) (†)
-
- Southern ? (Cayapa–Tsafiki)
- Caranqui (also known as Cara, Kara, Karanki, Imbaya) (†) ??
- Cha’palaachi (also known as Cayapa, Chachi, Kayapa, Nigua, Cha’pallachi)
- TsafikiTsafiki languageTsafiki, also known as Tsáchila or Colorado, is a Barbacoan language spoken in Ecuador by ca. 2000 ethnic Tsáchila people....
(also known as Tsafiqui, Tsáfiki, Colorado, Tsáchela, Tsachila, Campaz, Colima)
Pasto, Muellama, Coconuco, and Caranqui are now extinct
Extinct language
An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
.
Pasto and Muellama are usually classified as Barbacoan, but the current evidence is weak and deserves further attention. Muellama may have been one of the last surviving dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
s of Pasto (both extinct, replaced by Spanish) — Muellama is known only by a short wordlist recorded in the 19th century. The Muellama vocabulary is similar to modern Awa Pit. The Cañari–Puruhá languages
Cañari–Puruhá languages
Cañari and Puruhá are two poorly attested extinct languages of the Marañón River basin in Ecuador which are difficult to classify. Puruhá is scarcely attested, and Cañari is known primarily from place names...
are ever more poorly attested, and while often placed in a Chimuan
Chimuan languages
Chimuan or Yuncan is a hypothetical small extinct language family of northern Peru and Ecuador .-Family division:Chimuan consisted of three attested languages:* Mochica * Cañar–Puruhá** Cañari ** Puruhá...
family, were perhaps more likely Barbacoan.
The Coconucan languages were first connected to Barbacoan by Daniel Brinton in 1891. However, a subsequent publication by Henri Beuchat and Paul Rivet placed Coconucan together with a Paezan family (which included Páez
Páez language
Páez is a language isolate of Colombia spoken by Páez people in the central Andes region near Popayán...
and Paniquita) due a misleading "Moguex" vocabulary list. The "Moguex" vocabulary turned out to be a mix of both Páez and Guambiano languages (Curnow 1998). This vocabulary has led to misclassifications by Greenberg (1956, 1987), Loukotka (1968), Kaufman (1990, 1994), and Campbell (1997), among others. Although Páez may be related to the Barbacoan family, a conservative view considers Páez a language isolate
Language isolate
A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship with other languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. They are in effect language families consisting of a single...
pending further investigation. Guambiano is more similar to other Barbacoan languages than to Páez, and thus Key (1979), Curnow et al. (1998), and Gordon (2005) place Coconucan under Barbacoan. The moribund Totoró is sometimes considered a dialect of Guambiano instead of a separate language, and, indeed, Adelaar & Muysken (2004) state that Guambiano-Totoró-Coconuco is best treated as a single language.
Caranqui was replaced by Quechua
Quechua languages
Quechua is a Native South American language family and dialect cluster spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably...
, perhaps surviving as late as the 18th century. Caranqui seems to have influenced Imbabura Quechua. There are similarities between Caranqui and Pasto and also between Caranqui and Tsafiki. Caranqui is often classified as Barbacoan but the evidence is not conclusive due its poor documentation.
Genealogical relations
The Barbacoan languages may be related to the Páez languagePáez language
Páez is a language isolate of Colombia spoken by Páez people in the central Andes region near Popayán...
. Barbacoan is often connected with the Paezan languages
Paezan languages
Paezan may be any of several language-family proposals of Colombia and Ecuador named after the Paez language.-Proposed genealogical relations:...
(including Páez); however, Curnow (1998) shows how much of this proposal is based on misinterpretation of an old document of Douay (1888). (See: Paezan languages
Paezan languages
Paezan may be any of several language-family proposals of Colombia and Ecuador named after the Paez language.-Proposed genealogical relations:...
.)
Other more speculative larger groupings involving Barbacoan include the Macro-Paesan "cluster", the Macro-Chibchan
Macro-Chibchan
Macro-Chibchan is a proposal linking languages of Colombia and Nicaragua. These languages were once included in the Chibchan family itself, but were excluded pending further evidence as that family became well established...
stock, and the Chibchan-Paezan stock.
External links
- Ethnologue: Barbacoan
- Ethnologue: Páez
- Proel: Familia Barbacoana
- Proel: Sub-tronco Paezano