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 h ...

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 sout ...

. 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 in the southern Amazon Basin of

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. 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 Oro Win is a moribund Chapacuran language spoken along the upper stretches of the Pacaás Novos River in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South Ame ...

* Wariʼ (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 ******

(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 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 eve ...

, Azul River, and Mamoré River, 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. (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, 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 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, 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 *