The Chapacuran languages are a nearly extinct Native American

language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in his ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

. Almost all Chapacuran languages are extinct, and the four that are extant are

moribund Moribund refers to a literal or figurative state near death. Moribund may refer to: * ''Moribund'' (album), a 2006 album by the Norwegian black metal band Koldbrann * "Le Moribond", a song by Jacques Brel known in English as "Seasons in the Sun" ...

. They are spoken in

Rondônia Rondônia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). To the west is a short border with the state of Acre, to the north is the state of Amazonas, in the east is Mato Grosso ...

in the southern

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Boli ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and in northern

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

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

Wamo language Guamo ( Wamo or Guamotey) is an extinct language of Venezuela. Kaufman (1990) finds a connection with the Chapacuran languages convincing. Varieties Varieties that may have been dialects or closely related languages: *Guamo of San José - on th ...

Languages

Angenot (1997)

List of Chapacuran languages from Angenot (1997):Angenot, Geralda de Lima (1997).
Fonotática e Fonologia do Lexema Protochapacura
''. Dissertação do Mestrado, Universidade Federal de Rondônia. Spoken in Brazil: * Torá *

Urupá Urupá is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. Its population was 11,272 (2020) and its area is 832 km2.IBGE The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics ( pt, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatístic ...

* Jarú *Jamará * Oro Win *

Wariʼ The Wariʼ, also known as the Pakaa Nova, are an indigenous people of Brazil, living in seven villages in the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondônia. Their first contact with European settlers was on the shores of the Pakaa Nova River, a ...

(Pakaas Novos) *Tapoaya *Kutiana *Matáwa (Matáma) * Kumana (Cautario) *Uomo *Urunamakan *Kujuna *Pawumwa- Wanyam *Abitana- Wanyam *Kabishi- Wanyam *Miguelenho- Wanyam Spoken in Bolivia: * Moré (Iten) * Muré *Itoreauhip * Rokorona *Herisobokono * Chapakura (Huachi, Tapakura) * Kitemoka (Kitemo) * Napeka (Nape) *Kusikia-Manasi

Birchall (2013)

Birchall et al. (2013) classify the dozen known Chapacuran languages as follows: *Chapacuran **Kitemoka–Tapakura *** Chapacura † *** Quitemo † **Moreic–Waric ***Moreic–Tor ****Nuclear More ***** Itene (90 speakers) ***** Cumana (3 speakers) **** Torá † ***Waric ****Urupa–Yaru: ***** Urupa † ***** Yaru † ****Wanham–Wari–Oro Win ***** Wanham † *****Wari–Oro Win ****** Oro Win (5 speakers) ****** Wari' (2,700 speakers) **(position unclear) Napeca (Nape) † **(position unclear) Rocorona (Ocorono) † 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 Computational phylogenetics is the application of computational algorithms, methods, and programs to phylogenetic "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary hist ...

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 Guaporé River ( pt, Rio Guaporé, es, Río Iténez) is a river in western Brazil and northeastern Bolivia. It is long; of the river forms the border between Brazil and Bolivia. The Guaporé River is part of the Madeira River basin, which even ...

, Azul River, and

Mamoré River The Mamoré is a large river in Brazil and Bolivia which unites with the Beni to form the Madeira, one of the largest tributaries of the Amazon. It rises on the northern slope of the Sierra de Cochabamba, east of the city of Cochabamba, and is ...

, Beni province, Bolivia. *Itoreauhip - spoken between the

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 Location San Borja is the seat of the San Borja Municipality, the second municipal section of the José Ballivián Province. The city is located at an elevation of 197 m on the left bank of ''Río Maniqui'', a tributary of Río Rapulo which fl ...

. (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

and Cautario River, Rondônia. *Pacahanovo / Uari Wayõ - spoken on the

Pacaás Novos River The Pacaás Novos River ( pt, Rio Pacaás Novos) is a river of Rondônia state in western Brazil. It is a tributary of the Mamoré River, which it joins from the right just above Guajará-Mirim. The Pacaás Novos River rises in the mountains in th ...

, 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 The Urupá River is a river of Rondônia state in western Brazil. It is a left tributary of the Ji-Paraná River. Its source is in the Pacaás Novos National Park Pacaás Novos National Park ( pt, Parque Nacional de Pacaás Novos) is a nationa ...

, Rondônia. *Yarú - spoken by a few families on the

Jaru River The Jaru River is a river of Rondônia state in western Brazil. See also *List of rivers of Rondônia List of rivers in Rondônia (Brazilian State). The list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger ...

. *Yamarú - extinct language once spoken on the

Jamari River The Jamari River is a river of Rondônia state in western Brazil. Part of the river's watershed is covered by the Jacundá National Forest, a sustainable use conservation unit. The Jamari river is dammed by the Samuel Hydroelectric Dam near Po ...

. (Unattested.) *Torá / Tura - formerly spoken on the

Marmelos River Dos Marmelos River ( pt, Rio dos Marmelos) is a river of Amazonas state in north-western Brazil. It is a tributary of the Madeira River, and merges into this river about upstream from the town of Manicoré. The headwaters of the river are in the ...

and Paricá River, state of Amazonas; now by a few individuals on the Posta

Cabeça d'anta Cabeça, the Portuguese word for head, may refer to: Things * ''Cabeça Dinossauro'', the third studio album released by Brazilian rock band Titãs Places * Cabeça da Cobra, a headland on the Angola coast, also known as Margate Head, 06° 32' 4 ...

, 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).Angenot de Lima, Geralda (1997). ''Fonotática e Fonologia do Lexema Protochapacura''. Master's dissertation, Universidade Federal de Rondônia. 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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapacuran Languages Language families Indigenous languages of Western Amazonia Languages of Brazil Languages of Bolivia *