Guaicuruan (Guaykuruan, Waikurúan, Guaycuruano, Guaikurú, Guaicuru, Guaycuruana) is a

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 ...

spoken in northern

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, western

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, and

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(

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). The speakers of the languages are often collectively called the

Guaycuru peoples Guaycuru or Guaykuru is a generic term for several ethnic groups indigenous to the Gran Chaco region of South America, speaking related Guaicuruan languages. In the 16th century, the time of first contact with Spanish explorers and colonists ...

. For the most part, the Guaycuruans lived in the

Gran Chaco The Gran Chaco or simply Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland tropical dry broadleaf forest natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion o ...

and were nomadic and warlike, until finally subdued by the various countries of the region in the 19th century.

Genetic relations

Jorge A. Suárez includes Guaicuruan with Charruan in a hypothetical ''Waikuru-Charrúa'' stock.

Morris Swadesh Morris Swadesh ( ; January 22, 1909 – July 20, 1967) was an American linguist who specialized in comparative and historical linguistics, and developed his mature career at UNAM in Mexico. Swadesh was born in Massachusetts to Bessarabian Jewi ...

includes Guaicuruan along with Matacoan, Charruan, and Mascoian within his '' Macro-Mapuche'' stock. Both proposals appear to be obsolete.

Family division

There is a clear binary split between Northern Guaicuruan (Kadiwéu) and Southern Guaicuruan according to Nikulin (2019).Nikulin, Andrey V. 2019.
The classification of the languages of the South American Lowlands: State-of-the-art and challenges / Классификация языков востока Южной Америки
'. Illič-Svityč (Nostratic) Seminar / Ностратический семинар, Higher School of Economics, October 17, 2019. Guaicuruan/Waikurúan languages are often classified as follows: *Guaicuruan **Northern Guaicuruan *** Kadiweu (also known as Caduveo, Kadiwéu, Mbayá-Guaycuru, Mbayá, Guaicurú, Waikurú, Ediu-Adig) **Southern Guaicuruan ***

Pilagá fThe Pilagá (in Pilagá language, Pilagá language: ''pit'laxá'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous people of the Guaycuru peoples, Guaycuru group that inhabits the center of the province of Formosa Province, Formosa, in Arge ...

(also known as Pilacá) *** Toba Qom (also known as Chaco Sur, Namqom) ***

Mocoví The Mocoví ( Mocoví: ''moqoit'') are an Indigenous people of the Gran Chaco region of South America. They speak the Mocoví language and are one of the ethnic groups belonging to the Guaycuru peoples. In the 2010 Argentine census, 22,439 peop ...

(also known as Mbocobí, Mokoví, Moqoyt) ***

Abipón The Abipones (, singular ) were an Indigenous people of Argentina's Gran Chaco region, speakers of one of the Guaicuruan languages. They ceased to exist as an independent ethnic group in the early 19th century. A small number of survivors assim ...

(also known as Callaga, Kalyaga, Abipon) **Eastern Guaicuruan (often considered to be separate

language isolate A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu and Burushaski in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America, and Tiwi ...

s rather than part of Gaicuruan) *** Guachi (also known as Wachí) *** Payagua (also known as Payawá) Abipón, Guachí, and Payaguá all are

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 ...

Lyle Campbell Lyle Richard Campbell (born October 22, 1942) is an American scholar and linguist known for his studies of indigenous American languages, especially those of Central America, and on historical linguistics in general. Campbell is professor emeri ...

(2012) classifies Guachi and Payagua each as

s. Harriet Klein argues against the assumption that Kadiweu is Guaicuruan. Most others accept the inclusion of Kadiweu into the family. The Guachi were absorbed by the Mbayá. The similarities with the Mbayá language may be due to borrowing rather than a familial relationship.Steward, Julian H. (1946), ''Handbook of South American Indians, Volume 1, The Marginal Tribes,'' Washington: Smithsonian Institution, p. 214 *''Toba'' is spoken in the eastern part of the Chaco and Formosa provinces of Argentina, in southern Paraguay, and in the eastern part of Bolivia; there are approximately 25,000 speakers. The Guaicuruan Toba language here should not be confused with the Mascoy language of the Mascoyan family which is also called ''Toba'' (or ''Toba-Emok'', ''Toba-Maskoy''). *''Pilagá'', with about 4,000 speakers, is spoken in the northeastern part of Chaco province, and in eastern Formosa, Argentina; *''Mocoví'', with about 7,000 speakers, is spoken in Argentina in the northern part of Santa Fe and southern Chaco provinces. *''Abipón'', which was spoken in the eastern part of Chaco province, Argentina, is now extinct and was very closely related to the other languages in the southern branch

Mason (1950)

Internal classification of the Guaicuruan languages by Mason (1950): *Guaicuruan **Guaicurú, Northern: Mbayá-Guaicurú ***West: Caduveo (Cadiguegodí), Guetiadegodí (Guetiadebo) ***East: Apacachodegodegí (Mbayá Mirim), Lichagotegodí (Icachodeguo ?), Eyibogodegí, Gotocogegodegí (Ocoteguebo ?) ***Payaguá (Lengua) ****North: Sarigué (Cadigué) ****South: Magach (Agacé, Siacuás, Tacumbú) **Frentones ***Middle: Toba (Tocowit) ****Toba: Guazú, Komlék, Michi (Miri), Cocolot, Lanyagachek, Mogosma, Chirokina, Natica ****Pilagá ****Aguilot ***South ****Abipón (Callaga) *****Mapenuss (Yaukanigá) *****Mepene *****Gulgaissen (Kilvasa) ****Mocoví (Mbocobí) Possible or doubtful Guaicuruan languages listed by Mason (1950): *Guachi *Layaná *Juri (Suri) *Querandí *Mahoma (Hohoma)

Vocabulary

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

References

Bibliography

* Adelaar, Willem F. H.; & Muysken, Pieter C. (2004). ''The languages of the Andes''. Cambridge language surveys. Cambridge University Press. * Campbell, Lyle. (1997). ''American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America''. New York: Oxford University Press. . * Censabella, Marisa. (1999). ''Las lenguas indígenas de la Argentina''. (pp 60–77). Buenos Aires: Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires. .

External links

* Proel
Familia Guaycuruana
{{South American languages Language families Mataco–Guaicuru languages Chaco linguistic area