The Chapacuran languages are a nearly
extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
Native American language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics ...
of
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
. 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 ...
, with the exception of
Wari'. 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). It is bordered by Acre (state), Acre in the west,
Amazonas, Brazil, Amazonas in the north, Mato Grosso in the east, and Bo ...
in the southern
Amazon Basin
The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, 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
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
and in northern
Bolivia
Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
.
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):
[Angenot, Geralda de Lima (1997). ]
Fonotática e Fonologia do Lexema Protochapacura
''. Dissertação do Mestrado, Universidade Federal de Rondônia.
Spoken in Brazil:
*
Torá
*
Urupá
*
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 t ...
(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
A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA. In ...
of Chapacuran, based on a
computational phylogenetic
Computational phylogenetics, phylogeny inference, or phylogenetic inference focuses on computational and optimization algorithms, heuristics, and approaches involved in phylogenetic analyses. The goal is to find a phylogenetic tree representing op ...
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
Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), Greek for "peace".
Irene, and related names, may refer to:
* Irene (given name)
Places
* Irene, Gauteng, South Africa
* Irene, South Dakota, United States
* Irene, Texas, United States
...
/ Moré - spoken on the
Guaporé River
Guaporé River (, ) is a river in western Brazil and northeastern Bolivia. It is long; of the river forms the border between Brazil and Bolivia.
The Guaporé is part of the Madeira River basin, which eventually empties into the Amazon River. T ...
,
Azul River, and
Mamoré River
The Mamoré is a large river in Brazil and Bolivia which unites with the Madre de Dios River 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 Cochaba ...
, Beni province, Bolivia.
*
Itoreauhip - spoken between the
Guaporé River
Guaporé River (, ) is a river in western Brazil and northeastern Bolivia. It is long; of the river forms the border between Brazil and Bolivia.
The Guaporé is part of the Madeira River basin, which eventually empties into the Amazon River. T ...
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
Guaporé River (, ) is a river in western Brazil and northeastern Bolivia. It is long; of the river forms the border between Brazil and Bolivia.
The Guaporé is part of the Madeira River basin, which eventually empties into the Amazon River. T ...
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
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.
See also
*List of rivers of Rondônia
ReferencesBrazilian Ministry of Transport , Rondônia.
*
Yarú - spoken by a few families on the
Jaru River.
*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 () is a river of Amazonas (Brazilian state), 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 ...
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).
[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
*