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Indigenous languages of South America

The indigenous languages of South America are those whose origin dates back to the pre-Columbian era. The subcontinent has great linguistic diversity, but, as the number of speakers of indigenous languages is diminishing, it is estimated that it could become one of the least linguistically diverse regions of the planet.

The principal families of South America (except Quechua, Aymaran, and Mapuche).

About 600 indigenous languages are known from South America, Central America, and the Antilles (see List of indigenous languages of South America), although the actual number of languages that existed in the past may have been substantially higher.

Origins edit

 
Language isolates of South America

The indigenous languages of South America, Central America and the Antilles completely covered the subcontinent and the Antilles at the beginning of the 16th century. The estimates of the total population are very imprecise, ranging between ten and twenty million inhabitants. At the beginning of 1980, there were about 16 million speakers of indigenous languages; three quarters of them lived in the Central Andes.[1]

The number of existing tribes and ethnic groups is around 1500, although some authors have suggested it might reach 2000. However, it is uncertain if each of these groups has a unique language, so the figures likely indicate an upper bound for the actual number of languages spoken. For many of the known historical groups, there is no record of their language and many of them are extinct today. There is only one record of some 550 or 600 languages, with some 180 of them totally extinct today. In many cases, the fragmented records do not allow us to decide if they have to do with different languages or of divergent but mutually intelligible dialects of the same language.

Relationships with North America and Mesoamerica edit

Since the indigenous people of South America are historically from North America, the problem of the origin involves looking for genetic and linguistic relationships with the indigenous groups of North America and Mesoamerica. Currently the only linguistic family of South America that shows a relationship with languages situated outside the region are the Chibchan languages, for which some evidence has shown that they are related to the Misumalpan and Lencan languages of Central America. In the 1970s, it was proposed that the Uru-Chipaya languages of Bolivia could be related to the Mayan languages of Mesoamerica, but while this proposal was initially accepted, Campbell argued very strongly against it.[2]

Study of the South American languages edit

The first grammar of a South American language was that of classical Quechua published by Domingo de Santo Tomás in 1560. The missionaries of the seventeenth and first half of the eighteenth centuries carried out an intense activity of data collection, grammar writing (usually called language arts), dictionaries, and catechisms, in order to evangelize the indigenous populations. A good amount of linguistic records also appear in chronicles and official records. Much of the information from this period was summarized by Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro in his work Idea dell'universo (1778–87), and in the work by Johann Christoph Adelung and Johann Severin Vater Mithridates (1806–17). Subsequently, most of the information collected first hand was compiled by ethnographers in the first half of the twentieth century. Despite the magnitude and fundamental nature of the works of this period, its technical quality is below that achieved in other parts of the world, which is why South America, along with New Guinea, was one of the worst-known parts from a linguistic point of view.

Since the 1940s, the number of works about the languages of South America has grown significantly, carried out fundamentally by linguists and missionaries well trained in linguistics. However, there still exist many important gaps that affect the descriptive level, and few languages have been widely described. That has hurt comparative, historic, and typological work on the languages of South America. The descriptive work has had problems due to the shortage of linguists and the rapid extinction of many languages, often situated in remote and difficult to reach areas that require urgent study before they disappear completely. These languages produce scientific interest since their vocabulary reflects the traditional culture and contains important data about the fauna, flora, and local history of little-known regions. In addition, indigenous people have a right to bilingual education in some countries and for that education to be successful, it is important to rely on good descriptive material of indigenous languages.

Urheimat of some linguistic families edit

For some of the main linguistic families of South America, homeland groups have been proposed, or Urheimats, grouping them from where they originated. For example, it seems quite clear that Tupian languages expanded from Rondônia, which is an area of greater diversification; in fact, almost all Tupian languages outside of Rondônia belong to only one branch of the nine branches that form the Tupian family. This principle that the original area of a linguistic family is usually also the most diversified has been questioned by some authors, although it is one of the main tools to propose an area of original expansion for most language families. Recently, the phylogenetic relationship between Chibchan languages, Lencan languages, and Misumalpan languages has been demonstrated, which suggests that these languages originated in a region near the south of the Mesoamerican area and therefore, Chibchan languages will have expanded from the north to Panama and northeast of Colombia. Similarly, it is conjectured that the Caribbean languages would have expanded from east to west, and from there some groups moved to the eastern Amazon and others to the Caribbean islands, where they were expanding in the fifteenth century upon the arrival of the Europeans to America.

 
Map of the Amazon River and its drainage basin
 
Political map of the Amazon River and its drainage basin

Jolkesky (2016) speculates that from around 2,200 B.C. to 1,800 B.C., the banks of the Amazon River had been occupied by a continuous chain of language families. They are listed below in order, beginning from the mouth of the Amazon River to the upper Amazon and Marañón Rivers.[3]: 821 

  1. Pre-Proto-Cariban (from the Xingu to Tapajós confluence)
  2. Pre-Proto-Nambikwaran (Tapajós confluence)
  3. Pre-Proto-Peba-Yagua (Madeira confluence)
  4. Pre-Proto-Kwaza (Madeira confluence)
  5. Pre-Proto-Puinave-Nadahup (Lower Madeira River)
  6. Pre-Proto-Jivaroan (Rio Negro confluence)
  7. Pre-Proto-Yanomami (along the Lower Rio Negro)
  8. Pre-Proto-Arawan (Purus confluence)
  9. Pre-Proto-Harakmbut-Katukinan (Tefé confluence)
  10. Pre-Proto-Bora-Muinane (Japurá, Jutaí, Juruá confluences)
  11. Proto-Pano-Takanan (Içá and Jutaí confluences)
  12. Pre-Proto-Witotoan (upper Amazon River)
  13. Pre-Proto-Zaparoan (Napo confluence)
  14. Pre-Proto-Urarina (Ucayali and Marañón confluence)
  15. Pre-Proto-Cahuapanan (Huallaga and Marañón confluences)

Urheimat of other language families:[3]: 821 

Classification edit

Although some of the classifications are based on geographic, ethnographic, or cultural criteria, these methods are not valid from a linguistic point of view, even though on some occasions there are correlations between them and a genuine phylogenetic relationship. The previous correlation is supported only in branches or subgroups, but within the more extensive and diversified linguistic families, the correlation between cultural similarity and linguistic relationship is notably reduced, becoming random and arbitrary. Although families like Cariban languages or Tupian languages are formed by villages with typical cultures of the tropical jungle, there are villages that speak Tupian languages, like Aché and Sirionó, who have very different cultures from those of the tropical jungle. And equally, the villages of a homogeneous cultural area like the eastern slopes of the Andes in fact, belong to unrelated linguistic families. In the same manner, isolated languages, or less diversified families, tend to concentrate in marginal areas, while Quechua, that is a family of few languages not very diversified, occupies a very prominent place both from a historical and a demographic point of view.

Problems with the classification edit

The major part of the proper linguistic classification of the languages of South America has been done on the basis of vocabulary lists and some grammatical traits. That procedure, although it leads to the clear recognition of the top-level genetic groups, does not distinguish well between the coincidences and the lexical loans of the words retained from the common proto-language. Also the glottochronology, which is more criticizable to find relationships of higher levels, has been used extensively. Just recently the comparative method has been applied carefully and patiently to find relationships between the identifiable phylogenetic subgroups from a simple list of vocabulary. For that reason, the phylogenetic classifications of the languages of America are far from definitive, and the best of them, in the best of cases, are only an approximation of the real relationships. For that reason, many proposed families like Macro-Arawakan or Macro-Chibchan are questionable because evidence that exists in their favor is sporadic, debatable, and not very solid.

The number of dead languages with scarce records is also very high among the languages of South America. Those languages are frequently labeled as unclassified languages, when in reality they are unclassifiable because the recorded material relies on unverifiable philological interpretations and extremely scarce data with which it is not possible to establish a relationship unequivocally, as is the case with living languages for which data can be collected in sufficient numbers to decide if they are related to other languages or are genuine isolated languages.

Another important difficulty is the multiplicity of names used for South American languages. Many times the names reflect orthographic conventions of different European languages (Spanish, Portuguese, English) or simply the whim of each author when referring to a language among the names of tribes, dialects, or groups related to that language. There are cases of fictional languages that appear in the classifications, when in fact it is an alternative denomination for another language; in other cases, it is not possible to decide if two different names represent two different languages or close dialects of the same language. And vice versa, sometimes the same name has been used to refer to unrelated languages; for example, the term "catuquina" can refer to a family of languages, to Katukinan language, a particular language of the catuquina family, or another language of the Pano-Tacanan family, even Catuquinarú language seems to have been a group that spoke a Tupian language. Similarly, the terms "tapuya", a Tupian term for "enemy", has been applied to many unrelated languages. The lack of orthographic standardization and the multiplicity of names for the same language sometimes make it difficult to compare among classifications of different authors.

Important classifications edit

The first well-founded classification that used proper linguistic data is that of the American anthropologist D. G. Brinton (1891), which recognized 73 families on the basis of grammatical similarities and a brief list of vocabulary. In 1913, another anthropologist, Alexander Chamberlain, published a very influential classification that for many years was considered as a basic reference, although that classification did not provide enough details about its foundation.[4] The classification of the French anthropologist Paul Rivet (1924) far surpassed all previous ones, providing a large amount of linguistic data and evidence that had been unpublished until then; that classification recognized 77 families and was based on lexical similarities. The Czech American Čestmír Loukotka contributed two more classifications (1935, 1944). Along the lines of Rivet, the first one extended the number of families to 94, and the second revised the previous one and recognized 114 families. The largest number of families in Loukotka's classifications was due to the discovery of new languages, and because he separated some of the more uncertain groups in Rivet's classification into different families. Rivet and Loukotka worked together on a new classification (1952) that proposed 108 families.[5] During much of the second half of the 20th century, the reference classification was a later revision of Loukotka (1968) that set the number of families to 117.[6]

Other existing classifications are those of Joseph Greenberg (1956), revised later (1987), Morris Swadesh's (1964) and one by Jorge Suárez(1973). These propose a reduction in the number of subgroups and, at least the first two authors, accept the Amerind hypothesis; that ultimately all of the families of America (except Eskimo-Aleut and Na-Dene) are related.[7] These classifications have been criticized by most Americanists, who prefer the more conservative and less certain classifications, even if they do include a large number of families. More recently, Terrence Kaufman (1994) and Lyle Campbell (1997) have proposed their own classifications, the first one more in line with Greenberg and Swadesh ("mergers") and the second more in line with Loukotka ("splitters").

Languages by geographic region edit

Below is a list of South American language families and isolates grouped by geographic region. The inventory of language families and isolates is partly based on Campbell (2012).[8] Each region is higlighted in bold, while language isolates and individual languages are highlighted in italics.

Linguistic areas edit

There are at least two large areas with clearly different characteristics separated by a transition zone; these are the Andean and the Amazon area. Although there are more frequent features in each of these areas, the two areas harbor a great linguistic diversity, the differences being basically in the frequency with which certain features appear in each of them.

Below are historical linguistic spheres of influence in South America as listed by Jolkesky (2016):[3]: 674 

Sphere of interaction Dates
Caquetá-Japurá 1000 BC – 400 AD
Caquetá-Negro 1 AD – 1700 AD
circum-Marañón[9] 1500 BC – 1600 AD
circum-Titicaca 1500 BC – 1600 AD
Central Amazon 2000 BC – 1700 AD
San Agustín 1 AD – 1600 AD
Upper Amazon 600 BC – 1600 AD
Lower Amazon 2000 BC – 1600 AD
Lower/Middle Paraguay 500 BC – 1600 AD
Middle Orinoco 400 AD – 1600 AD
Pantanal of Guaporé 500 AD – 1600 AD
Central Brazil 1500 BC – 1700 AD
Ucayali 200 AD – 1600 AD
Central Andes 1500 BC – 1500 AD
Negro-Orinoco 800 AD – 1700 AD
nuclear/intermediate South American area 1500 BC – 1500 AD
Putumayo-Caquetá 1 AD – 1700 AD
Central Trans-Andes 500 BC – 600 AD
Southern Trans-Andes 1500 BC – 1600 AD

Language families in South America have had extensive contact with other over millennia. Jolkesky (2016) has found lexical parallels among the following language families, most of which are due to borrowing and contact rather than inheritance:[3]

Language family Other language families with lexical parallels
Aikanã Kanoe, Kwaza, Nambikwara
Andaki Paez, Chibcha, Tinigua-Pamigua
Andoke-Urekena Saliba-Hodi, Tikuna-Yuri
Arawa Chapakura-Wañam, Jivaro, Kwaza, Máku, Mura-Matanawi, Taruma, Yanomami, Arawak, Nadahup, Puinave-Kak, Tupi
Arawak Arawa, Bora-Muinane, Guahibo, Harakmbet-Katukina, Harakmbet, Katukina-Katawixi, Irantxe, Jaqi, Karib, Kawapana, Kayuvava, Kechua, Kwaza, Leko, Macro-Jê, Macro-Mataguayo-Guaykuru, Mapudungun, Mochika, Mura-Matanawi, Nambikwara, Omurano, Pano-Takana, Pano, Takana, Puinave-Nadahup, Taruma, Tupi, Urarina, Witoto-Okaina, Yaruro, Zaparo, Saliba-Hodi, Tikuna-Yuri
Arutani Máku, Sape, Warao, Tikuna-Yuri, Tukano
Atakame Barbakoa
Barbakoa Atakame, Cholon-Hibito, Kechua, Mochika, Paez, Tukano, Umbra, Chibcha
Bora-Muinane Choko, Guahibo, Tukano, Witoto-Okaina, Yaruro, Arawak, Tupi
Bororo Guato, Karib, Kayuvava, Nambikwara, Tupi
Chapakura-Wañam Irantxe, Puinave-Kak, Arawa
Chibcha Andaki, Barbakoa, Choko, Duho, Paez, Sape, Taruma
Choko Guahibo, Kamsa, Paez, Tukano, Umbra, Witoto-Okaina, Yaruro, Chibcha, Bora-Muinane
Cholon-Hibito Kechua, Leko, Mapudungun, Mochika, Kandoshi, Muniche, Barbakoa
Duho Chibcha
Guahibo Yanomami, Arawak, Nadahup, Puinave-Kak, Bora-Muinane, Choko
Guato Bororo, Tupi, Karib
Harakmbet Pano, Puinave-Nadahup, Tupi, Arawak
Harakmbet-Katukina Arawak
Irantxe Arawak, Tupi, Chapakura-Wañam, Nambikwara, Yanomami
Itonama Nambikwara
Jaqi Kechua, Kunza, Leko, Uru-Chipaya, Arawak, Pukina
Jeoromitxi Karib, Kwaza, Mura-Matanawi, Taruma
Jirajara Sape, Timote-Kuika, Puinave-Kak
Jivaro Kechua, Kwaza, Taruma, Yanomami, Katukina-Katawixi, Kandoshi, Tupi, Arawa
Kamsa Choko
Kandoshi Cholon-Hibito, Jivaro, Kawapana, Kechua, Kunza, Mochika, Pano
Kanichana Mochika
Kanoe Kwaza, Nambikwara, Aikanã
Karaja Karib, Puinave-Nadahup, Tupi
Karib Guato, Kawapana, Nambikwara, Taruma, Warao, Arawak, Bororo, Jeoromitxi, Karaja, Rikbaktsa, Tupi
Katukina-Katawixi Jivaro, Máku, Mura-Matanawi, Puinave-Nadahup, Taruma, Tupi, Yanomami, Arawak
Kawapana Kechua, Arawak, Kandoshi, Pukina, Karib
Kayuvava Arawak, Bororo, Takana, Tupi
Kechua Kunza, Leko, Mapudungun, Mochika, Uru-Chipaya, Zaparo, Arawak, Kandoshi, Muniche, Pukina, Pano, Barbakoa, Cholon-Hibito, Jaqi, Jivaro, Kawapana
Kofan Paez
Kulle Leko
Kunza Mochika, Kandoshi, Jaqi, Kechua, Mapudungun, Uru-Chipaya
Kwaza Taruma, Arawak, Jeoromitxi, Arawa, Jivaro, Mura-Matanawi, Nambikwara, Peba-Yagua, Aikanã, Kanoe
Leko Kulle, Omurano, Taushiro, Urarina, Arawak, Cholon-Hibito, Jaqi, Kechua
Macro-Jê Arawak
Macro-Mataguayo-Guaykuru Trumai, Tupi, Arawak, Ofaye
Máku Sape, Warao, Saliba-Hodi, Tikuna-Yuri, Katukina-Katawixi, Arawa, Arutani
Mapudungun Kunza, Mochika, Uru-Chipaya, Arawak, Pano, Cholon-Hibito, Kechua
Mochika Trumai, Arawak, Kandoshi, Muniche, Barbakoa, Cholon-Hibito, Kechua, Mapudungun, Kanichana, Kunza
Moseten-Tsimane Uru-Chipaya, Yurakare, Pano
Muniche Cholon-Hibito, Kechua, Mochika
Mura-Matanawi Kwaza, Taruma, Katukina-Katawixi, Arawak, Jeoromitxi, Tupi, Arawa
Nadahup Arawa, Guahibo, Tupi
Nambikwara Aikanã, Irantxe, Itonama, Kanoe, Kwaza, Peba-Yagua, Arawak, Bororo, Karib
Ofaye Macro-Mataguayo-Guaykuru
Omurano Urarina, Arawak, Zaparo, Leko
Paez Chibcha, Barbakoa, Choko, Tukano, Andaki, Kofan
Pano Kechua, Mapudungun, Moseten-Tsimane, Tukano, Uru-Chipaya, Harakmbet, Arawak, Kandoshi, Pukina
Pano-Takana Arawak
Peba-Yagua Kwaza, Zaparo, Nambikwara
Pijao Witoto-Okaina
Puinave-Kak Arawa, Chapakura-Wañam, Guahibo, Jirajara, Sape, Tupi, Yanomami
Puinave-Nadahup Harakmbet, Katukina-Katawixi, Arawak, Karaja
Pukina Jaqi, Kawapana, Kechua, Pano, Uru-Chipaya
Rikbaktsa Karib
Saliba-Hodi Andoke-Urekena, Arawak, Máku, Tukano, Yaruro
Sape Warao, Chibcha, Puinave-Kak, Jirajara, Tukano, Arutani, Máku
Takana Kayuvava, Tupi, Arawak
Taruma Chibcha, Katukina-Katawixi, Arawak, Jeoromitxi, Tupi, Arawa, Jivaro, Karib, Mura-Matanawi, Tukano, Yanomami, Kwaza
Taushiro Tekiraka, Leko
Tekiraka Taushiro
Tikuna-Yuri Andoke-Urekena, Arawak, Arutani, Máku, Tukano
Timote-Kuika Jirajara
Tinigua-Pamigua Andaki
Trumai Macro-Mataguayo-Guaykuru, Tupi, Mochika
Tukano Arutani, Paez, Sape, Taruma, Witoto-Okaina, Saliba-Hodi, Tikuna-Yuri, Pano, Barbakoa, Bora-Muinane, Choko
Tupi Arawa, Bora-Muinane, Guato, Irantxe, Jivaro, Karib, Kayuvava, Mura-Matanawi, Taruma, Trumai, Yanomami, Harakmbet, Katukina-Katawixi, Arawak, Bororo, Karaja, Macro-Mataguayo-Guaykuru, Takana, Nadahup, Puinave-Kak
Umbra Barbakoa, Choko
Urarina Arawak, Leko, Omurano
Uru-Chipaya Kunza, Pukina, Pano, Jaqi, Kechua, Mapudungun, Moseten-Tsimane
Waorani Yaruro
Warao Karib, Arutani, Máku, Sape
Witoto-Okaina Pijao, Yaruro, Arawak, Bora-Muinane, Choko, Tukano
Yanomami Irantxe, Taruma, Katukina-Katawixi, Puinave-Kak, Tupi, Arawa, Guahibo, Jivaro
Yaruro Saliba-Hodi, Arawak, Bora-Muinane, Choko, Witoto-Okaina, Waorani
Yurakare Moseten-Tsimane
Zaparo Omurano, Arawak, Kechua, Peba-Yagua

Linguistic characteristics edit

The languages of South America are enormously diverse. There are no common characteristics to all of them since they belong to different linguistic families, and as a whole do not form a linguistic area where there has been convergence to certain common features. The more frequent common characteristics are similar to those found in the rest of the world, so there are no peculiarities of the languages of South America.

Grammar edit

As is the case worldwide, the majority of South American languages, such as Andean languages and Bora–Witoto languages, predominantly use suffixes. It is also common to find agglutinative languages that use many suffixes and a few prefixes, as is the case with Arawakan and Pano-Tacanan languages. Some language families use prefixes and suffixes, but only a few per word as in Cariban, Tupian, and Macro-Jê (it has been proposed that these three families could form a Je-Tupi-Carib superfamily). A few languages extensively use prefixes and even more suffixes, like Hibito–Cholon languages. No languages have been found that use prefixes exclusively to mark grammatical relations. Isolating languages, which practically lack affixes, such as Shelknam and Tehuelche, are quite rare in South America.

The morphological complexity of words varies enormously; in Guarani (Tupian), the average is three morphemes, while in Piro (Arawakan), it is six morphemes. In Yuracaré, many words are formed by reduplication, a procedure also used systematically in Tupian languages. The composition is very frequent, just like in the rest of the world, although it is a rare procedure in Chonan languages that are highly isolating. Nominal incorporation in the verb is also frequent in America. As for the classical morphological types, among the agglutinating languages, Quechua, Pano-Tacanan languages, or Mapuche are found. Cariban and Tupian languages are slightly fusional, and Chon languages are the clearest case of isolating languages.

Guaicuru languages (Mataco–Guaicuru) have a grammatical gender distinction in the noun, although other languages have special morphemes to differentiate masculine and feminine in the markings of a person of the verb (Arawakan, Witoto, Tucanoan). Languages without a grammatical gender distinction are the most numerous, just like in the rest of the world. Regarding grammatical number, distinction between singular and plural is optional in the third person of many Cariban and Tupian languages, whereas Mapuche and Yaghan obligatorily distinguish the singular from the dual and the plural. Grammatical case is usually indicated by suffixes or post-positions more often than with prepositions. Nominal classifiers that classify nouns according to the shape of the object or the way they appear naturally are frequent in Chibchan, Tucanoan, and Yanomaman languages. It is also common in some languages (Guaicuru, Mataco, Cocama) for some words to have different forms if the speaker is male or female.

In personal pronouns, the distinction of clusivity in the first person of the plural form is used frequently. It is also common to mark, in the third person, if the referent is present or absent, sitting or standing, and other distinct incidental similarities (Movima, Guaicuru). Possession is indicated by prefixes or suffixes. The systems that mark possession of the noun coincide with the markings of subject of the intransitive verbs quite frequently.

On the verb, it is common to mark both the person of the subject, the person of the object, and the negation within the same verbal form. Grammatical aspect and grammatical tense are recorded in virtually all languages, although its realization varies greatly from one language to others: in Aguaruna, there is a future verb form, along with three past verb forms that differ according to the relative distance in time, while Guarani differentiates future forms from non-future forms. Other languages, like Jébero, basically express the grammatical mood, making the other verbal categories less important. It is also very common to use directionals or affixes that indicate movement with respect to the speaker, or the listener, or the location in the verbal action (Quechua, Záparo, Itonama). Other affixes that are given are "manners" of how the action is carried out (hitting, biting, walking, ...); these appear in Jébero or Ticuna. Cariban languages also indicate whether an action was carried out collectively or individually. For the grammatical modifier, the use of equations is frequent, formed by the simple juxtaposition of subject, features that are common in many languages. This contrasts with European languages that frequently use linking verbs in this type of predication.

Phonology edit

As with grammar, there are no characteristics common to the languages of South America. There is a lot of variation in the number of phonemes: in Jaqaru (Aymaran), 42 segmental phonemes are distinguished, while in Campa (Arawakan), only 17 are distinguished. Jaqaru has 36 consonants, while Makusi (Cariban) has only 11. Some Quechua varieties have only three vowels, while Apinayé (Jê) has ten oral vowels and seven nasal vowels.

A dialect of Tucanoan distinguishes only three points of articulation, while Uru–Chipaya distinguishes nine points of articulation. The voiceless stops /p, t, k/ appear in virtually all languages, while the corresponding sounds /b, d, g/ are frequently absent, and fricatives like /f, v, z/ may most often be missing. Glottalized stops appear in Andean and Chibchan languages. Aspirated stops are used in Quechua and Aymaran languages, but in general they are rare. Also, palatalized consonants as in the Puinave language are not very frequent. A contrast between velars and post-velars is used in Quechua, Aymaran, and Chonan, while velars and labiovelars are contrasted in Tacana and Siona. Retroflex consonants are somewhat rare, although they appear in Pano-Tacanan and Uru-Chipaya languages.

Vowel systems with nasal vowels are frequent (Macro-Jê and Saliban), but in many languages nasality is not a property of the vowel; instead it is a suprasegmental phoneme of the word (Tupian and Yanomaman). Front rounded vowels (⟨ö⟩ [ø], ⟨ü⟩ [y]) are virtually absent, although central vowels are common (⟨ï⟩ [ɨ]), as are back unrounded vowels (⟨ï⟩ [ɯ]). Long and short vowels are contrasted in the Cariban and Uru–Chipaya families. Glottalized vowels appear in Tikuna and the Chonan family. Tone and pitch accent are very common in South America. In any case, the tonal languages of South America have simple systems; the most complex systems are those of Acaricuara (three tones), Mundukurú (four tones), and Ticuna (five tones).

List of languages edit

Languages by country edit

Number of living indigenous languages by country as of 2012, as reported by Crevels (2012):[10]

Country Total population Indigenous population Indigenous languages
  Brazil 198,739,300 358,000 177
  Colombia 45,644,000 1,392,600 68
  Peru 29,547,000 4,045,700 50
  Venezuela 26,814,800 536,900 36
  Bolivia 9,827,500 4,541,000 33
  Paraguay 6,995,700 103,300 18
  Argentina 40,913,600 600,300 15
  Ecuador 14,573,100 830,400 13
  Guyana 772,300 50,000 10
  Suriname 481,300 7,000 8
  French Guiana 221,500 5,000 7
  Chile 16,601,700 692,200 6
Total 391,131,800 13,162,400 420

See also:

See also edit

Bibliography edit

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  • Loukotka, Čestmír. (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: Latin American Studies Center, University of California.
  • Mason, J. Alden. (1950). The languages of South America. In J. Steward (Ed.), Handbook of South American Indians (Vol. 6, pp. 157–317). Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology bulletin (No. 143). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
  • Michael, Lev; Chousou-Polydouri, Natalia (2020). "Computational phylogenetics and the classification of South American languages" (PDF). Language and Linguistics Compass. 13 (12). doi:10.1111/lnc3.12358. S2CID 210985305.
  • Migliazza, Ernest C.; & Campbell, Lyle. (1988). Panorama general de las lenguas indígenas en América. Historia general de América (Vol. 10). Caracas: Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia.
  • Poser, William J. (1992) The Salinan and Yurumanguí Data in Language in the Americas. International Journal of American Linguistics 58.2.202-22.PDF
  • Rowe, John H. (1954). Linguistics classification problems in South America. In M. B. Emeneau (Ed.), Papers from the symposium on American Indian linguistics (pp. 10–26). University of California publications in linguistics (Vol. 10). Berkeley: University of California Press.
  • Tax, Sol. (1960) "Aboriginal languages of Latin America"; Current Anthropology 1: 430-436.
  • Tovar, Antonio, y Larrucea de Tovar, C.: Catálogo de las Lenguas de América del Sur (1986). Con clasificaciones, indicaciones tipológicas, bibliografía y mapas. Ed. Gredos, Madrid. Col. Grandes Manuales.
  • Voegelin, Carl F.; & Voegelin, Florence M. (1965). Classification of American Indian languages. Languages of the world, Native American fasc. 2, sec. 1.6). Anthropological Linguistics, 7 (7): 121-150.
  • Voegelin, Carl F.; & Voegelin, Florence M. (1977). Classification and index of the world's languages. Amsterdam: Elsevier. ISBN 0-444-00155-7.

Lexicons edit

  • Anonymous. (1928). Lenguas de América. Manuscripts de la Real Biblioteca. Vol. 1 (Catálogo de la Real Biblioteca, VI). Madrid.
  • Crevels, M.; Muysken, P. (eds.). Lenguas de Bolivia. La Paz: Plural editores.
  • de Matallana, B.; de Armellada, C. (1943). Exploración del Paragua. Boletín de la Sociedad Venezolana de ciencias naturales, 8:61-110.
  • Farabee, W. C. (1922). Indian Tribes of Eastern Peru. (Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 10.). Massachusetts: Peabody Museum.
  • González de Pérez, M. S.; Rodríguez de Montes, M. L. (eds.) (2000). Lenguas indígenas de Colombia: una visión descriptiva. Santafé de Bogotá: Instituto Caro y Cuervo.
  • Huber, R. Q.; Reed, R. B. (1992). Vocabulario Comparativo: Palabras Selectas de Lenguas Indígenas de Colombia. Santafé de Bogotá: SIL.
  • Jahn, A. (1927). Los Aborígenes del Occidente de Venezuela: Su Historia, Etnografía y Afinidades Lingüísticos. Caracas: Lit. y Tip. del Comerio.
  • Jijón Y Caamaño, J. (1945). Antropología prehispánica del Ecuador. Quito: La prensa catolica.
  • Key, M. R.; Comrie, B. (eds.) (2015). The Intercontinental Dictionary Series. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  • Koch-Grünberg, Th. (1928). Von Roraima zum Orinoco. Ergebnisse einer Reise in Nord-Brasilien und Venezuela in den Jahren 1911-1913. Stuttgart: Strecker und Schröder.
  • Landaburu, J. (ed.) (1996). Documentos sobre lenguas aborígenes de Colombia del archivo de Paul Rivet (4 volumes). Bogotá: Ediciones Uniandes/ CCELA/ COLCIENCIAS.
  • Lehmann, W. (1920). Zentral-Amerika. Teil I. Die Sprachen Zentral-Amerikas in ihren Beziehungen zueinander sowie zu Süd-Amerika und Mexico. Berlin: Reimer.
  • Loukotka, C. (1942). Klassifikation der Südamerikanischen Sprachen. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 74.1-6:1-69.
  • Montaño Aragón, M. (1987): Guía Etnográfica Lingüística de Bolivia, La Paz: Editorial Don Bosco.
  • Natterer, J. (n.d.) Collections of vocabularies. (Manuscript).
  • Nies, J. (1976). Suplemento A: listas comparativas de palabras usuales en idiomas vernaculos de la selva (Datos Etno-Lingüísticos, 49). Lima: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  • Nimuendajú, K. (1925). As Tribus do Alto Madeira. Journal de la Société des Américanistes, 17:137-172.
  • Nimuendajú, K. (1932a). Idiomas Indígenas del Brasil. Revista del Instituto de etnología de la Universidad nacional de Tucumán, 2:543-618.
  • Nimuendajú, K. (1932b). Wortlisten aus Amazonien. Journal de la Société des Américanistes de Paris, 24:93-119.
  • Nimuendajú, K.; Do Valle Bentes, E. H. (1923). Documents sur quelques langues peu connues de l'Amazone. Journal de la Société des Américanistes, 15:215-222.
  • Payne, D. L. (1990). Some widespread grammatical forms in South American languages. In: D. L. Payne (ed.), Amazonian linguistics: Studies in lowland South American languages, 75-87. Austin: University of Texas Press.
  • Torero, A. (2002). Idiomas de los Andes: Lingüística e Historia. Lima: Editorial Horizonte.
  • Von Martius, C. F. Ph. (1867). Wörtersammlung Brasilianischer Sprachen. (Beiträge zur Ethnographie und Sprachenkunde Amerikas zumal Brasiliens, II.) Leipzig: Friedrich Fleischer.
  • Zevallos Quiñones, J. (1948). Primitivas Lenguas de la Costa. Revista del Museo Nacional de Lima, 17:114-119.

References edit

  1. ^ Adelaar, Willem F. H.; Muysken, Pieter C. (2004). The Languages of the Andes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511486852. ISBN 9780511486852.
  2. ^ Hannss, Katja (2008). Uchumataqu: The Lost Language of the Urus of Bolivia; a Grammatical Description of the Language as Documented Between 1894 and 1952. CNWS Publications. ISBN 9789057891588.
  3. ^ a b c d Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho De Valhery. 2016. Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Brasília.
  4. ^ Chamberlain, Alexander F. (1913). "Linguistic Stocks of South American Indians, with Distribution-Map". American Anthropologist. 15 (2): 236–247. doi:10.1525/aa.1913.15.2.02a00040. ISSN 1548-1433.
  5. ^ Rivet, Paul, 1876-1958, author. Stresser-Péan, Guy, author. Loukotka, Čestmír, author. Les langues du monde : extrait. OCLC 886673904. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Loukotka, Čestmír. (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Wilbert, Johannes. Los Angeles: Latin American Center, UCLA. ISBN 0879031077. OCLC 241806007.
  7. ^ Greenberg, Joseph H. (Joseph Harold), 1915-2001. (1987). Language in the Americas. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804713154. OCLC 13794661.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Campbell, Lyle (2012). "Classification of the indigenous languages of South America". In Grondona, Verónica; Campbell, Lyle (eds.). The Indigenous Languages of South America. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 2. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 59–166. ISBN 978-3-11-025513-3.
  9. ^ Jolkesky, M. & Eloranta, R. (2015). The Marañón-Huallaga interaction zone: Contact beyond the northern Peruvian Andes. REELA (Red Europea para el Estudio de las Lenguas Andinas) 4. Leiden, 6–7 September 2015, Universiteit Leiden.
  10. ^ Crevels, Mily (2012). "Language endangerment in South America: The clock is ticking". In Grondona, Verónica; Campbell, Lyle (eds.). The Indigenous Languages of South America. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 2. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 167–234. ISBN 978-3-11-025513-3.

External links edit

  • Nicolai, Renato (2006). "Vocabulários e dicionários de línguas indígenas brasileiras".
  • Petrucci, Victor A. (2007). "Línguas Indígenas".
  • South American Indigenous Language Structures
  • SAPhon – South American Phonological Inventories
  • Sound comparisons for various South American languages
  • Diachronic Atlas of Comparative Linguistics (DiACL)
  • Aguilar Panchi, Evelyn Michelle, Saetbyul Lee, Evgenia Brodetsky, and Matthias Urban (eds.). 2022. CINWA - Database of Cultivated plants and their names in the indigenous languages of South America. Version 1.0.

indigenous, languages, south, america, indigenous, languages, south, america, those, whose, origin, dates, back, columbian, subcontinent, great, linguistic, diversity, number, speakers, indigenous, languages, diminishing, estimated, that, could, become, least,. The indigenous languages of South America are those whose origin dates back to the pre Columbian era The subcontinent has great linguistic diversity but as the number of speakers of indigenous languages is diminishing it is estimated that it could become one of the least linguistically diverse regions of the planet The principal families of South America except Quechua Aymaran and Mapuche About 600 indigenous languages are known from South America Central America and the Antilles see List of indigenous languages of South America although the actual number of languages that existed in the past may have been substantially higher Contents 1 Origins 1 1 Relationships with North America and Mesoamerica 1 2 Study of the South American languages 1 3 Urheimat of some linguistic families 2 Classification 2 1 Problems with the classification 2 2 Important classifications 3 Languages by geographic region 4 Linguistic areas 5 Linguistic characteristics 5 1 Grammar 5 2 Phonology 6 List of languages 7 Languages by country 8 See also 9 Bibliography 9 1 Lexicons 10 References 11 External linksOrigins edit nbsp Language isolates of South America The indigenous languages of South America Central America and the Antilles completely covered the subcontinent and the Antilles at the beginning of the 16th century The estimates of the total population are very imprecise ranging between ten and twenty million inhabitants At the beginning of 1980 there were about 16 million speakers of indigenous languages three quarters of them lived in the Central Andes 1 The number of existing tribes and ethnic groups is around 1500 although some authors have suggested it might reach 2000 However it is uncertain if each of these groups has a unique language so the figures likely indicate an upper bound for the actual number of languages spoken For many of the known historical groups there is no record of their language and many of them are extinct today There is only one record of some 550 or 600 languages with some 180 of them totally extinct today In many cases the fragmented records do not allow us to decide if they have to do with different languages or of divergent but mutually intelligible dialects of the same language Relationships with North America and Mesoamerica edit Since the indigenous people of South America are historically from North America the problem of the origin involves looking for genetic and linguistic relationships with the indigenous groups of North America and Mesoamerica Currently the only linguistic family of South America that shows a relationship with languages situated outside the region are the Chibchan languages for which some evidence has shown that they are related to the Misumalpan and Lencan languages of Central America In the 1970s it was proposed that the Uru Chipaya languages of Bolivia could be related to the Mayan languages of Mesoamerica but while this proposal was initially accepted Campbell argued very strongly against it 2 Study of the South American languages edit The first grammar of a South American language was that of classical Quechua published by Domingo de Santo Tomas in 1560 The missionaries of the seventeenth and first half of the eighteenth centuries carried out an intense activity of data collection grammar writing usually called language arts dictionaries and catechisms in order to evangelize the indigenous populations A good amount of linguistic records also appear in chronicles and official records Much of the information from this period was summarized by Lorenzo Hervas y Panduro in his work Idea dell universo 1778 87 and in the work by Johann Christoph Adelung and Johann Severin Vater Mithridates 1806 17 Subsequently most of the information collected first hand was compiled by ethnographers in the first half of the twentieth century Despite the magnitude and fundamental nature of the works of this period its technical quality is below that achieved in other parts of the world which is why South America along with New Guinea was one of the worst known parts from a linguistic point of view Since the 1940s the number of works about the languages of South America has grown significantly carried out fundamentally by linguists and missionaries well trained in linguistics However there still exist many important gaps that affect the descriptive level and few languages have been widely described That has hurt comparative historic and typological work on the languages of South America The descriptive work has had problems due to the shortage of linguists and the rapid extinction of many languages often situated in remote and difficult to reach areas that require urgent study before they disappear completely These languages produce scientific interest since their vocabulary reflects the traditional culture and contains important data about the fauna flora and local history of little known regions In addition indigenous people have a right to bilingual education in some countries and for that education to be successful it is important to rely on good descriptive material of indigenous languages Urheimat of some linguistic families edit For some of the main linguistic families of South America homeland groups have been proposed or Urheimats grouping them from where they originated For example it seems quite clear that Tupian languages expanded from Rondonia which is an area of greater diversification in fact almost all Tupian languages outside of Rondonia belong to only one branch of the nine branches that form the Tupian family This principle that the original area of a linguistic family is usually also the most diversified has been questioned by some authors although it is one of the main tools to propose an area of original expansion for most language families Recently the phylogenetic relationship between Chibchan languages Lencan languages and Misumalpan languages has been demonstrated which suggests that these languages originated in a region near the south of the Mesoamerican area and therefore Chibchan languages will have expanded from the north to Panama and northeast of Colombia Similarly it is conjectured that the Caribbean languages would have expanded from east to west and from there some groups moved to the eastern Amazon and others to the Caribbean islands where they were expanding in the fifteenth century upon the arrival of the Europeans to America nbsp Map of the Amazon River and its drainage basin nbsp Political map of the Amazon River and its drainage basin Jolkesky 2016 speculates that from around 2 200 B C to 1 800 B C the banks of the Amazon River had been occupied by a continuous chain of language families They are listed below in order beginning from the mouth of the Amazon River to the upper Amazon and Maranon Rivers 3 821 Pre Proto Cariban from the Xingu to Tapajos confluence Pre Proto Nambikwaran Tapajos confluence Pre Proto Peba Yagua Madeira confluence Pre Proto Kwaza Madeira confluence Pre Proto Puinave Nadahup Lower Madeira River Pre Proto Jivaroan Rio Negro confluence Pre Proto Yanomami along the Lower Rio Negro Pre Proto Arawan Purus confluence Pre Proto Harakmbut Katukinan Tefe confluence Pre Proto Bora Muinane Japura Jutai Jurua confluences Proto Pano Takanan Ica and Jutai confluences Pre Proto Witotoan upper Amazon River Pre Proto Zaparoan Napo confluence Pre Proto Urarina Ucayali and Maranon confluence Pre Proto Cahuapanan Huallaga and Maranon confluences Urheimat of other language families 3 821 Pre Proto Chibchan Lower Magdalena River Valley Pre Proto Warao Orinoco Delta Proto Duho Upper Inirida Upper Vaupes and Upper Apaporis basins Pre Proto Tukanoan Andean foothills and Upper Caqueta basin Pre Proto Barbacoan Ecuadorian Andes Pre Proto Mochica Daule River basin Pre Proto Cholon Hibito Upper Santiago and Upano basins Pre Proto Macro Arawakan Middle and Upper Ucayali basins Pre Proto Candoshi Shapra Upper Huallaga basin in the Peruvian Highlands Pre Proto Quechuan Lake Junin region Pre Proto Jaqi middle Mantaro basin in the Peruvian Highlands Pre Proto Mapudungun coast of southern Peru Pre Proto Kunza sources of the Urubamba and Apurimac Rivers Pre Proto Uru Chipaya shores of Lake Titicaca Proto Tupian Roosevelt and Upper Aripuana basins Proto Macro Je Mato Grosso from the Sao Lourenco River to the Rio das Mortes Pre Proto Macro Mataguayo Guaykuru PantanalClassification editAlthough some of the classifications are based on geographic ethnographic or cultural criteria these methods are not valid from a linguistic point of view even though on some occasions there are correlations between them and a genuine phylogenetic relationship The previous correlation is supported only in branches or subgroups but within the more extensive and diversified linguistic families the correlation between cultural similarity and linguistic relationship is notably reduced becoming random and arbitrary Although families like Cariban languages or Tupian languages are formed by villages with typical cultures of the tropical jungle there are villages that speak Tupian languages like Ache and Siriono who have very different cultures from those of the tropical jungle And equally the villages of a homogeneous cultural area like the eastern slopes of the Andes in fact belong to unrelated linguistic families In the same manner isolated languages or less diversified families tend to concentrate in marginal areas while Quechua that is a family of few languages not very diversified occupies a very prominent place both from a historical and a demographic point of view Problems with the classification edit The major part of the proper linguistic classification of the languages of South America has been done on the basis of vocabulary lists and some grammatical traits That procedure although it leads to the clear recognition of the top level genetic groups does not distinguish well between the coincidences and the lexical loans of the words retained from the common proto language Also the glottochronology which is more criticizable to find relationships of higher levels has been used extensively Just recently the comparative method has been applied carefully and patiently to find relationships between the identifiable phylogenetic subgroups from a simple list of vocabulary For that reason the phylogenetic classifications of the languages of America are far from definitive and the best of them in the best of cases are only an approximation of the real relationships For that reason many proposed families like Macro Arawakan or Macro Chibchan are questionable because evidence that exists in their favor is sporadic debatable and not very solid The number of dead languages with scarce records is also very high among the languages of South America Those languages are frequently labeled as unclassified languages when in reality they are unclassifiable because the recorded material relies on unverifiable philological interpretations and extremely scarce data with which it is not possible to establish a relationship unequivocally as is the case with living languages for which data can be collected in sufficient numbers to decide if they are related to other languages or are genuine isolated languages Another important difficulty is the multiplicity of names used for South American languages Many times the names reflect orthographic conventions of different European languages Spanish Portuguese English or simply the whim of each author when referring to a language among the names of tribes dialects or groups related to that language There are cases of fictional languages that appear in the classifications when in fact it is an alternative denomination for another language in other cases it is not possible to decide if two different names represent two different languages or close dialects of the same language And vice versa sometimes the same name has been used to refer to unrelated languages for example the term catuquina can refer to a family of languages to Katukinan language a particular language of the catuquina family or another language of the Pano Tacanan family even Catuquinaru language seems to have been a group that spoke a Tupian language Similarly the terms tapuya a Tupian term for enemy has been applied to many unrelated languages The lack of orthographic standardization and the multiplicity of names for the same language sometimes make it difficult to compare among classifications of different authors Important classifications edit The first well founded classification that used proper linguistic data is that of the American anthropologist D G Brinton 1891 which recognized 73 families on the basis of grammatical similarities and a brief list of vocabulary In 1913 another anthropologist Alexander Chamberlain published a very influential classification that for many years was considered as a basic reference although that classification did not provide enough details about its foundation 4 The classification of the French anthropologist Paul Rivet 1924 far surpassed all previous ones providing a large amount of linguistic data and evidence that had been unpublished until then that classification recognized 77 families and was based on lexical similarities The Czech American Cestmir Loukotka contributed two more classifications 1935 1944 Along the lines of Rivet the first one extended the number of families to 94 and the second revised the previous one and recognized 114 families The largest number of families in Loukotka s classifications was due to the discovery of new languages and because he separated some of the more uncertain groups in Rivet s classification into different families Rivet and Loukotka worked together on a new classification 1952 that proposed 108 families 5 During much of the second half of the 20th century the reference classification was a later revision of Loukotka 1968 that set the number of families to 117 6 Other existing classifications are those of Joseph Greenberg 1956 revised later 1987 Morris Swadesh s 1964 and one by Jorge Suarez 1973 These propose a reduction in the number of subgroups and at least the first two authors accept the Amerind hypothesis that ultimately all of the families of America except Eskimo Aleut and Na Dene are related 7 These classifications have been criticized by most Americanists who prefer the more conservative and less certain classifications even if they do include a large number of families More recently Terrence Kaufman 1994 and Lyle Campbell 1997 have proposed their own classifications the first one more in line with Greenberg and Swadesh mergers and the second more in line with Loukotka splitters Languages by geographic region editSee also Classification of indigenous languages of the Americas and Linguistic areas of the Americas Below is a list of South American language families and isolates grouped by geographic region The inventory of language families and isolates is partly based on Campbell 2012 8 Each region is higlighted in bold while language isolates and individual languages are highlighted in italics Arawakan Je Tupi Carib Cariban Tupian Macro Je Je Jabutian Kamaka Karaja Krenakan Maxakalian Jaiko Ofaye Rikbaktsa Chiquitano Guato Eastern Brazil Karirian Purian Taruma Gamela Baenan Katembri Natu Pankararu Tarairiu Tuxa Wamoe Xoko Xukuru Yate Oti Orinoco Venezuela Yanomaman Arutani Sape Arutani Sape Maku Jukude Warao Guamo Otomacoan Yaruro Duho Saliban Betoi Hodi Ticuna Yuri Andes Colombia and Venezuela Cofan Camsa Andaqui Paezan Tiniguan Timotean Jirajaran Amazon Colombia Japura Vaupes area Tucanoan Bora Witoto Boran Witotoan Andoque Urequena Guajiboan Nadahup Puinave Pacific coast Colombia and Ecuador Chibchan Chocoan Barbacoan Yurumangui Esmeralda Pacific coast Peru Sechura Catacao Chimuan Canari Puruha Mochica Amazon Peru Pano Tacanan Hibito Cholon Cahuapanan Jivaroan Candoshi Omurano Munichi Waorani Taushiro Urarina Tequiraca Saparo Yawan Peba Yagua Zaparoan Amazon Amazonas and Mato Grosso Arawan Harakmbut Katukinan Arawan Harakmbut Katukinan Mura Matanawi Muran Matanawi Trumai Mamore Guapore Chapacuran Mure Nambikwaran Bororoan Cayuvava Itonama Movima Canichana Mosetenan Yuracare Leco Aikana Kanoe Kwaza Irantxe Andes Peru Bolivia and Chile Culle Quechumaran Quechuan Aymaran Puquina Uru Chipaya Kunza Mapudungun Chaco Pampas Mataco Guaicuru Matacoan Guaicuruan Guachi Payagua Mascoyan Zamucoan Charruan Huarpean Lule Vilelan Chonan Far South Qawasqaran Yaghan ChonoLinguistic areas editSee also Linguistic areas of the Americas There are at least two large areas with clearly different characteristics separated by a transition zone these are the Andean and the Amazon area Although there are more frequent features in each of these areas the two areas harbor a great linguistic diversity the differences being basically in the frequency with which certain features appear in each of them Below are historical linguistic spheres of influence in South America as listed by Jolkesky 2016 3 674 Sphere of interaction Dates Caqueta Japura 1000 BC 400 AD Caqueta Negro 1 AD 1700 AD circum Maranon 9 1500 BC 1600 AD circum Titicaca 1500 BC 1600 AD Central Amazon 2000 BC 1700 AD San Agustin 1 AD 1600 AD Upper Amazon 600 BC 1600 AD Lower Amazon 2000 BC 1600 AD Lower Middle Paraguay 500 BC 1600 AD Middle Orinoco 400 AD 1600 AD Pantanal of Guapore 500 AD 1600 AD Central Brazil 1500 BC 1700 AD Ucayali 200 AD 1600 AD Central Andes 1500 BC 1500 AD Negro Orinoco 800 AD 1700 AD nuclear intermediate South American area 1500 BC 1500 AD Putumayo Caqueta 1 AD 1700 AD Central Trans Andes 500 BC 600 AD Southern Trans Andes 1500 BC 1600 AD Language families in South America have had extensive contact with other over millennia Jolkesky 2016 has found lexical parallels among the following language families most of which are due to borrowing and contact rather than inheritance 3 Language family Other language families with lexical parallels Aikana Kanoe Kwaza Nambikwara Andaki Paez Chibcha Tinigua Pamigua Andoke Urekena Saliba Hodi Tikuna Yuri Arawa Chapakura Wanam Jivaro Kwaza Maku Mura Matanawi Taruma Yanomami Arawak Nadahup Puinave Kak Tupi Arawak Arawa Bora Muinane Guahibo Harakmbet Katukina Harakmbet Katukina Katawixi Irantxe Jaqi Karib Kawapana Kayuvava Kechua Kwaza Leko Macro Je Macro Mataguayo Guaykuru Mapudungun Mochika Mura Matanawi Nambikwara Omurano Pano Takana Pano Takana Puinave Nadahup Taruma Tupi Urarina Witoto Okaina Yaruro Zaparo Saliba Hodi Tikuna Yuri Arutani Maku Sape Warao Tikuna Yuri Tukano Atakame Barbakoa Barbakoa Atakame Cholon Hibito Kechua Mochika Paez Tukano Umbra Chibcha Bora Muinane Choko Guahibo Tukano Witoto Okaina Yaruro Arawak Tupi Bororo Guato Karib Kayuvava Nambikwara Tupi Chapakura Wanam Irantxe Puinave Kak Arawa Chibcha Andaki Barbakoa Choko Duho Paez Sape Taruma Choko Guahibo Kamsa Paez Tukano Umbra Witoto Okaina Yaruro Chibcha Bora Muinane Cholon Hibito Kechua Leko Mapudungun Mochika Kandoshi Muniche Barbakoa Duho Chibcha Guahibo Yanomami Arawak Nadahup Puinave Kak Bora Muinane Choko Guato Bororo Tupi Karib Harakmbet Pano Puinave Nadahup Tupi Arawak Harakmbet Katukina Arawak Irantxe Arawak Tupi Chapakura Wanam Nambikwara Yanomami Itonama Nambikwara Jaqi Kechua Kunza Leko Uru Chipaya Arawak Pukina Jeoromitxi Karib Kwaza Mura Matanawi Taruma Jirajara Sape Timote Kuika Puinave Kak Jivaro Kechua Kwaza Taruma Yanomami Katukina Katawixi Kandoshi Tupi Arawa Kamsa Choko Kandoshi Cholon Hibito Jivaro Kawapana Kechua Kunza Mochika Pano Kanichana Mochika Kanoe Kwaza Nambikwara Aikana Karaja Karib Puinave Nadahup Tupi Karib Guato Kawapana Nambikwara Taruma Warao Arawak Bororo Jeoromitxi Karaja Rikbaktsa Tupi Katukina Katawixi Jivaro Maku Mura Matanawi Puinave Nadahup Taruma Tupi Yanomami Arawak Kawapana Kechua Arawak Kandoshi Pukina Karib Kayuvava Arawak Bororo Takana Tupi Kechua Kunza Leko Mapudungun Mochika Uru Chipaya Zaparo Arawak Kandoshi Muniche Pukina Pano Barbakoa Cholon Hibito Jaqi Jivaro Kawapana Kofan Paez Kulle Leko Kunza Mochika Kandoshi Jaqi Kechua Mapudungun Uru Chipaya Kwaza Taruma Arawak Jeoromitxi Arawa Jivaro Mura Matanawi Nambikwara Peba Yagua Aikana Kanoe Leko Kulle Omurano Taushiro Urarina Arawak Cholon Hibito Jaqi Kechua Macro Je Arawak Macro Mataguayo Guaykuru Trumai Tupi Arawak Ofaye Maku Sape Warao Saliba Hodi Tikuna Yuri Katukina Katawixi Arawa Arutani Mapudungun Kunza Mochika Uru Chipaya Arawak Pano Cholon Hibito Kechua Mochika Trumai Arawak Kandoshi Muniche Barbakoa Cholon Hibito Kechua Mapudungun Kanichana Kunza Moseten Tsimane Uru Chipaya Yurakare Pano Muniche Cholon Hibito Kechua Mochika Mura Matanawi Kwaza Taruma Katukina Katawixi Arawak Jeoromitxi Tupi Arawa Nadahup Arawa Guahibo Tupi Nambikwara Aikana Irantxe Itonama Kanoe Kwaza Peba Yagua Arawak Bororo Karib Ofaye Macro Mataguayo Guaykuru Omurano Urarina Arawak Zaparo Leko Paez Chibcha Barbakoa Choko Tukano Andaki Kofan Pano Kechua Mapudungun Moseten Tsimane Tukano Uru Chipaya Harakmbet Arawak Kandoshi Pukina Pano Takana Arawak Peba Yagua Kwaza Zaparo Nambikwara Pijao Witoto Okaina Puinave Kak Arawa Chapakura Wanam Guahibo Jirajara Sape Tupi Yanomami Puinave Nadahup Harakmbet Katukina Katawixi Arawak Karaja Pukina Jaqi Kawapana Kechua Pano Uru Chipaya Rikbaktsa Karib Saliba Hodi Andoke Urekena Arawak Maku Tukano Yaruro Sape Warao Chibcha Puinave Kak Jirajara Tukano Arutani Maku Takana Kayuvava Tupi Arawak Taruma Chibcha Katukina Katawixi Arawak Jeoromitxi Tupi Arawa Jivaro Karib Mura Matanawi Tukano Yanomami Kwaza Taushiro Tekiraka Leko Tekiraka Taushiro Tikuna Yuri Andoke Urekena Arawak Arutani Maku Tukano Timote Kuika Jirajara Tinigua Pamigua Andaki Trumai Macro Mataguayo Guaykuru Tupi Mochika Tukano Arutani Paez Sape Taruma Witoto Okaina Saliba Hodi Tikuna Yuri Pano Barbakoa Bora Muinane Choko Tupi Arawa Bora Muinane Guato Irantxe Jivaro Karib Kayuvava Mura Matanawi Taruma Trumai Yanomami Harakmbet Katukina Katawixi Arawak Bororo Karaja Macro Mataguayo Guaykuru Takana Nadahup Puinave Kak Umbra Barbakoa Choko Urarina Arawak Leko Omurano Uru Chipaya Kunza Pukina Pano Jaqi Kechua Mapudungun Moseten Tsimane Waorani Yaruro Warao Karib Arutani Maku Sape Witoto Okaina Pijao Yaruro Arawak Bora Muinane Choko Tukano Yanomami Irantxe Taruma Katukina Katawixi Puinave Kak Tupi Arawa Guahibo Jivaro Yaruro Saliba Hodi Arawak Bora Muinane Choko Witoto Okaina Waorani Yurakare Moseten Tsimane Zaparo Omurano Arawak Kechua Peba YaguaLinguistic characteristics editThe languages of South America are enormously diverse There are no common characteristics to all of them since they belong to different linguistic families and as a whole do not form a linguistic area where there has been convergence to certain common features The more frequent common characteristics are similar to those found in the rest of the world so there are no peculiarities of the languages of South America Grammar edit As is the case worldwide the majority of South American languages such as Andean languages and Bora Witoto languages predominantly use suffixes It is also common to find agglutinative languages that use many suffixes and a few prefixes as is the case with Arawakan and Pano Tacanan languages Some language families use prefixes and suffixes but only a few per word as in Cariban Tupian and Macro Je it has been proposed that these three families could form a Je Tupi Carib superfamily A few languages extensively use prefixes and even more suffixes like Hibito Cholon languages No languages have been found that use prefixes exclusively to mark grammatical relations Isolating languages which practically lack affixes such as Shelknam and Tehuelche are quite rare in South America The morphological complexity of words varies enormously in Guarani Tupian the average is three morphemes while in Piro Arawakan it is six morphemes In Yuracare many words are formed by reduplication a procedure also used systematically in Tupian languages The composition is very frequent just like in the rest of the world although it is a rare procedure in Chonan languages that are highly isolating Nominal incorporation in the verb is also frequent in America As for the classical morphological types among the agglutinating languages Quechua Pano Tacanan languages or Mapuche are found Cariban and Tupian languages are slightly fusional and Chon languages are the clearest case of isolating languages Guaicuru languages Mataco Guaicuru have a grammatical gender distinction in the noun although other languages have special morphemes to differentiate masculine and feminine in the markings of a person of the verb Arawakan Witoto Tucanoan Languages without a grammatical gender distinction are the most numerous just like in the rest of the world Regarding grammatical number distinction between singular and plural is optional in the third person of many Cariban and Tupian languages whereas Mapuche and Yaghan obligatorily distinguish the singular from the dual and the plural Grammatical case is usually indicated by suffixes or post positions more often than with prepositions Nominal classifiers that classify nouns according to the shape of the object or the way they appear naturally are frequent in Chibchan Tucanoan and Yanomaman languages It is also common in some languages Guaicuru Mataco Cocama for some words to have different forms if the speaker is male or female In personal pronouns the distinction of clusivity in the first person of the plural form is used frequently It is also common to mark in the third person if the referent is present or absent sitting or standing and other distinct incidental similarities Movima Guaicuru Possession is indicated by prefixes or suffixes The systems that mark possession of the noun coincide with the markings of subject of the intransitive verbs quite frequently On the verb it is common to mark both the person of the subject the person of the object and the negation within the same verbal form Grammatical aspect and grammatical tense are recorded in virtually all languages although its realization varies greatly from one language to others in Aguaruna there is a future verb form along with three past verb forms that differ according to the relative distance in time while Guarani differentiates future forms from non future forms Other languages like Jebero basically express the grammatical mood making the other verbal categories less important It is also very common to use directionals or affixes that indicate movement with respect to the speaker or the listener or the location in the verbal action Quechua Zaparo Itonama Other affixes that are given are manners of how the action is carried out hitting biting walking these appear in Jebero or Ticuna Cariban languages also indicate whether an action was carried out collectively or individually For the grammatical modifier the use of equations is frequent formed by the simple juxtaposition of subject features that are common in many languages This contrasts with European languages that frequently use linking verbs in this type of predication Phonology edit As with grammar there are no characteristics common to the languages of South America There is a lot of variation in the number of phonemes in Jaqaru Aymaran 42 segmental phonemes are distinguished while in Campa Arawakan only 17 are distinguished Jaqaru has 36 consonants while Makusi Cariban has only 11 Some Quechua varieties have only three vowels while Apinaye Je has ten oral vowels and seven nasal vowels A dialect of Tucanoan distinguishes only three points of articulation while Uru Chipaya distinguishes nine points of articulation The voiceless stops p t k appear in virtually all languages while the corresponding sounds b d g are frequently absent and fricatives like f v z may most often be missing Glottalized stops appear in Andean and Chibchan languages Aspirated stops are used in Quechua and Aymaran languages but in general they are rare Also palatalized consonants as in the Puinave language are not very frequent A contrast between velars and post velars is used in Quechua Aymaran and Chonan while velars and labiovelars are contrasted in Tacana and Siona Retroflex consonants are somewhat rare although they appear in Pano Tacanan and Uru Chipaya languages Vowel systems with nasal vowels are frequent Macro Je and Saliban but in many languages nasality is not a property of the vowel instead it is a suprasegmental phoneme of the word Tupian and Yanomaman Front rounded vowels o o u y are virtually absent although central vowels are common i ɨ as are back unrounded vowels i ɯ Long and short vowels are contrasted in the Cariban and Uru Chipaya families Glottalized vowels appear in Tikuna and the Chonan family Tone and pitch accent are very common in South America In any case the tonal languages of South America have simple systems the most complex systems are those of Acaricuara three tones Mundukuru four tones and Ticuna five tones List of languages editMain article List of indigenous languages of South AmericaLanguages by country editSee also Number of languages by country Number of living indigenous languages by country as of 2012 as reported by Crevels 2012 10 Country Total population Indigenous population Indigenous languages nbsp Brazil 198 739 300 358 000 177 nbsp Colombia 45 644 000 1 392 600 68 nbsp Peru 29 547 000 4 045 700 50 nbsp Venezuela 26 814 800 536 900 36 nbsp Bolivia 9 827 500 4 541 000 33 nbsp Paraguay 6 995 700 103 300 18 nbsp Argentina 40 913 600 600 300 15 nbsp Ecuador 14 573 100 830 400 13 nbsp Guyana 772 300 50 000 10 nbsp Suriname 481 300 7 000 8 nbsp French Guiana 221 500 5 000 7 nbsp Chile 16 601 700 692 200 6 Total 391 131 800 13 162 400 420 See also Indigenous languages of Argentina Indigenous languages of Bolivia Indigenous languages of Brazil Indigenous languages of Colombia Indigenous languages of Chile Indigenous languages of Ecuador Indigenous languages of Paraguay Indigenous languages of Peru Indigenous languages of Venezuela Indigenous languages of Guyana Indigenous languages of Suriname Indigenous languages of French GuianaSee also editLanguages of South America List of indigenous languages of South America Amazonian languages List of unclassified languages of South America List of extinct languages of South America Extinct languages of the Maranon River basin Indigenous languages of the Americas Classification of indigenous languages of the Americas List of indigenous peoples of South America List of indigenous peoples of Brazil Handbook of South American IndiansBibliography editAdelaar Willem 2004 The Languages of the Andes Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 36275 7 Campbell Lyle 1997 American Indian languages The historical linguistics of Native America New York Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 509427 1 Dixon amp Alexandra Y Aikhenvald eds The Amazonian languages Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1999 ISBN 0 521 57021 2 Gordon Raymond G Jr Ed 2005 Ethnologue Languages of the world 15th ed Dallas TX SIL International ISBN 1 55671 159 X Online version http www ethnologue com Greenberg Joseph H 1987 Language in the Americas Stanford University Press CA ISBN 0 8047 1315 4 Kaufman Terrence 1990 Language history in South America What we know and how to know more In D L Payne Ed Amazonian linguistics Studies in lowland South American languages pp 13 67 Austin University of Texas Press ISBN 0 292 70414 3 Kaufman Terrence 1994 The native languages of South America In C Mosley amp R E Asher Eds Atlas of the world s languages pp 46 76 London Routledge Key Mary R 1979 The grouping of South American languages Tubingen Gunter Narr Verlag Loukotka Cestmir 1968 Classification of South American Indian languages Los Angeles Latin American Studies Center University of California Mason J Alden 1950 The languages of South America In J Steward Ed Handbook of South American Indians Vol 6 pp 157 317 Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology bulletin No 143 Washington D C Government Printing Office Michael Lev Chousou Polydouri Natalia 2020 Computational phylogenetics and the classification of South American languages PDF Language and Linguistics Compass 13 12 doi 10 1111 lnc3 12358 S2CID 210985305 Migliazza Ernest C amp Campbell Lyle 1988 Panorama general de las lenguas indigenas en America Historia general de America Vol 10 Caracas Instituto Panamericano de Geografia e Historia Poser William J 1992 The Salinan and Yurumangui Data in Language in the Americas International Journal of American Linguistics 58 2 202 22 PDF Rowe John H 1954 Linguistics classification problems in South America In M B Emeneau Ed Papers from the symposium on American Indian linguistics pp 10 26 University of California publications in linguistics Vol 10 Berkeley University of California Press Tax Sol 1960 Aboriginal languages of Latin America Current Anthropology 1 430 436 Tovar Antonio y Larrucea de Tovar C Catalogo de las Lenguas de America del Sur 1986 Con clasificaciones indicaciones tipologicas bibliografia y mapas Ed Gredos Madrid Col Grandes Manuales Voegelin Carl F amp Voegelin Florence M 1965 Classification of American Indian languages Languages of the world Native American fasc 2 sec 1 6 Anthropological Linguistics 7 7 121 150 Voegelin Carl F amp Voegelin Florence M 1977 Classification and index of the world s languages Amsterdam Elsevier ISBN 0 444 00155 7 Lexicons edit Anonymous 1928 Lenguas de America Manuscripts de la Real Biblioteca Vol 1 Catalogo de la Real Biblioteca VI Madrid Crevels M Muysken P eds Lenguas de Bolivia La Paz Plural editores de Matallana B de Armellada C 1943 Exploracion del Paragua Boletin de la Sociedad Venezolana de ciencias naturales 8 61 110 Farabee W C 1922 Indian Tribes of Eastern Peru Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology Harvard University 10 Massachusetts Peabody Museum Gonzalez de Perez M S Rodriguez de Montes M L eds 2000 Lenguas indigenas de Colombia una vision descriptiva Santafe de Bogota Instituto Caro y Cuervo Huber R Q Reed R B 1992 Vocabulario Comparativo Palabras Selectas de Lenguas Indigenas de Colombia Santafe de Bogota SIL Jahn A 1927 Los Aborigenes del Occidente de Venezuela Su Historia Etnografia y Afinidades Linguisticos Caracas Lit y Tip del Comerio Jijon Y Caamano J 1945 Antropologia prehispanica del Ecuador Quito La prensa catolica Key M R Comrie B eds 2015 The Intercontinental Dictionary Series Leipzig Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Koch Grunberg Th 1928 Von Roraima zum Orinoco Ergebnisse einer Reise in Nord Brasilien und Venezuela in den Jahren 1911 1913 Stuttgart Strecker und Schroder Landaburu J ed 1996 Documentos sobre lenguas aborigenes de Colombia del archivo de Paul Rivet 4 volumes Bogota Ediciones Uniandes CCELA COLCIENCIAS Lehmann W 1920 Zentral Amerika Teil I Die Sprachen Zentral Amerikas in ihren Beziehungen zueinander sowie zu Sud Amerika und Mexico Berlin Reimer Loukotka C 1942 Klassifikation der Sudamerikanischen Sprachen Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie 74 1 6 1 69 Montano Aragon M 1987 Guia Etnografica Linguistica de Bolivia La Paz Editorial Don Bosco Natterer J n d Collections of vocabularies Manuscript Nies J 1976 Suplemento A listas comparativas de palabras usuales en idiomas vernaculos de la selva Datos Etno Linguisticos 49 Lima Summer Institute of Linguistics Nimuendaju K 1925 As Tribus do Alto Madeira Journal de la Societe des Americanistes 17 137 172 Nimuendaju K 1932a Idiomas Indigenas del Brasil Revista del Instituto de etnologia de la Universidad nacional de Tucuman 2 543 618 Nimuendaju K 1932b Wortlisten aus Amazonien Journal de la Societe des Americanistes de Paris 24 93 119 Nimuendaju K Do Valle Bentes E H 1923 Documents sur quelques langues peu connues de l Amazone Journal de la Societe des Americanistes 15 215 222 Payne D L 1990 Some widespread grammatical forms in South American languages In D L Payne ed Amazonian linguistics Studies in lowland South American languages 75 87 Austin University of Texas Press Torero A 2002 Idiomas de los Andes Linguistica e Historia Lima Editorial Horizonte Von Martius C F Ph 1867 Wortersammlung Brasilianischer Sprachen Beitrage zur Ethnographie und Sprachenkunde Amerikas zumal Brasiliens II Leipzig Friedrich Fleischer Zevallos Quinones J 1948 Primitivas Lenguas de la Costa Revista del Museo Nacional de Lima 17 114 119 References edit Adelaar Willem F H Muysken Pieter C 2004 The Languages of the Andes Cambridge Cambridge University Press doi 10 1017 cbo9780511486852 ISBN 9780511486852 Hannss Katja 2008 Uchumataqu The Lost Language of the Urus of Bolivia a Grammatical Description of the Language as Documented Between 1894 and 1952 CNWS Publications ISBN 9789057891588 a b c d Jolkesky Marcelo Pinho De Valhery 2016 Estudo arqueo ecolinguistico das terras tropicais sul americanas Ph D dissertation University of Brasilia Chamberlain Alexander F 1913 Linguistic Stocks of South American Indians with Distribution Map American Anthropologist 15 2 236 247 doi 10 1525 aa 1913 15 2 02a00040 ISSN 1548 1433 Rivet Paul 1876 1958 author Stresser Pean Guy author Loukotka Cestmir author Les langues du monde extrait OCLC 886673904 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a last has generic name help CS1 maint multiple names authors list link CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Loukotka Cestmir 1968 Classification of South American Indian languages Wilbert Johannes Los Angeles Latin American Center UCLA ISBN 0879031077 OCLC 241806007 Greenberg Joseph H Joseph Harold 1915 2001 1987 Language in the Americas Stanford Calif Stanford University Press ISBN 0804713154 OCLC 13794661 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Campbell Lyle 2012 Classification of the indigenous languages of South America In Grondona Veronica Campbell Lyle eds The Indigenous Languages of South America The World of Linguistics Vol 2 Berlin De Gruyter Mouton pp 59 166 ISBN 978 3 11 025513 3 Jolkesky M amp Eloranta R 2015 The Maranon Huallaga interaction zone Contact beyond the northern Peruvian Andes REELA Red Europea para el Estudio de las Lenguas Andinas 4 Leiden 6 7 September 2015 Universiteit Leiden Crevels Mily 2012 Language endangerment in South America The clock is ticking In Grondona Veronica Campbell Lyle eds The Indigenous Languages of South America The World of Linguistics Vol 2 Berlin De Gruyter Mouton pp 167 234 ISBN 978 3 11 025513 3 External links editNicolai Renato 2006 Vocabularios e dicionarios de linguas indigenas brasileiras Petrucci Victor A 2007 Linguas Indigenas South American Indigenous Language Structures SAPhon South American Phonological Inventories Sound comparisons for various South American languages Diachronic Atlas of Comparative Linguistics DiACL Aguilar Panchi Evelyn Michelle Saetbyul Lee Evgenia Brodetsky and Matthias Urban eds 2022 CINWA Database of Cultivated plants and their names in the indigenous languages of South America Version 1 0 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Indigenous languages of South America amp oldid 1204920176, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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