Chapacuran languages

The Chapacuran languages are a nearly extinct Native American language family of South America. Almost all Chapacuran languages are extinct, and the four that are extant are moribund. They are spoken in Rondônia in the southern Amazon Basin of Brazil and in northern Bolivia.

According to Kaufman (1990), the Chapacuran family could be related to the extinct Wamo language.

Languages

Angenot (1997)

List of Chapacuran languages from Angenot (1997):

Birchall (2013)

Birchall et al. (2013) classify the dozen known Chapacuran languages as follows:

All languages are rather closely related.

Extinct languages for which Loukotka says 'nothing' is known, but which may have been Chapacuran, include Cujuna, Mataua, Urunumaca, and Herisobocono. Similarities with Mure appear to be loans.

Birchall, Dunn & Greenhill (2016)

Birchall, Dunn & Greenhill (2016) give the following phylogenetic tree of Chapacuran, based on a computational phylogenetic analysis.

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Irantxe, Puinave-Kak, and Arawa language families due to contact.

Varieties

Below is a full list of Chapacuran language varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties.

• Chapacura / Huachi / Tapacura - extinct language once spoken on the Blanco River and around Lake Chitiopa, Santa Cruz province, Bolivia.
• Irene / Moré - spoken on the Guaporé River, Azul River, and Mamoré River, Beni province, Bolivia.
• Itoreauhip - spoken between the Guaporé River and Azul River in Bolivia.
• Quitemo - once spoken on the Uruvaito River, Santa Cruz province, Bolivia.
• Nape - once spoken in the same country on Lake Chitiopa.
• Mure - once spoken on the San Martín River in Bolivia.
• Rocorona - once spoken on the San Martín River.
• Herisebocon - once spoken on the Rapulo River near the old mission of San Borja, Bolivia. (Unattested.)
• Wañám / Huanyam / Pawumwa - spoken between the São Miguel River and São Domingo River, territory of Rondônia, Brazil.
• Abitana - spoken as a dialect of the Wañám language at the sources of the São Miguel River, Brazil.
• Kumana / Cautario - spoken between the Guaporé River and Cautario River, Rondônia.
• Pacahanovo / Uari Wayõ - spoken on the Pacaás Novos River, Rondônia.
• Kabixi - spoken between the São Miguel River and Preto River, Rondônia, now perhaps extinct.
• Mataua - spoken in the western area of the Cautario River. (Unattested.)
• Urunamacan - spoken to the north of the Wañám tribe, Rondônia, Brazil. (Unattested.)
• Uómo / Miguelheno - spoken on the São Miguel River. (Unattested.)
• Tapoaya - spoken by an unknown tribe at the sources of the Cautario River. (Unattested.)
• Cujuna - spoken by a very little known tribe, now perhaps extinct, to the north of the Kumaná tribe. (Unattested.)
• Urupá / Ituarupa - spoken on the Urupá River, Rondônia.
• Yarú - spoken by a few families on the Jaru River.
• Yamarú - extinct language once spoken on the Jamari River. (Unattested.)
• Torá / Tura - formerly spoken on the Marmelos River and Paricá River, state of Amazonas; now by a few individuals on the Posta Cabeça d'anta, state of Amazonas.

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for the Chapacuran languages.

Proto-language

Below are Proto-Chapacuran (Proto-Chapakura) reconstructions from the Diachronic Atlas of Comparative Linguistics (DiACL) online, cited from Angenot de Lima (1997). English glosses are from DiACL, and the original Portuguese glosses are from Angenot de Lima (1997). For the full list of original Portuguese glosses, see the corresponding Portuguese article.

Notes and references