Chapacuran languages


The Chapacuran languages are a nearly extinct Native American language family of South America. Almost all Chapacuran languages are extinct, and the four that are extant are moribund, with the exception of Wariʼ. They are spoken in Rondônia in the southern Amazon Basin of Brazil and in northern Bolivia.
According to Kaufman, the Chapacuran family could be related to the extinct Wamo language. His suggestions have not been accepted as valid by others.

Languages

Loukotka (1968)

Below is a full list of Chapacuran language varieties listed by Loukotka, including names of unattested varieties.

Angenot (1997)

List of Chapacuran languages from Angenot :
Spoken in Brazil:
Spoken in Bolivia:

Birchall (2013)

Birchall et al. classify the dozen known Chapacuran languages as follows:
All languages are rather closely related.
Extinct languages for which Loukotka says 'nothing' is known, but which may have been Chapacuran, include Cujuna, Mataua, Urunumacan, and Herisobocona. Similarities with Mure appear to be loans.

Birchall, Dunn &; Greenhill (2016)

Birchall, Dunn & Greenhill give the following phylogenetic tree of Chapacuran, based on a computational phylogenetic analysis.

Language contact

Jolkesky notes that there are lexical similarities with the Irantxe, Puinave-Kak, and Arawa language families due to contact.

Vocabulary

Loukotka lists the following basic vocabulary items for the Chapacuran languages.
glossChapacuraIteneItoreauhipQuitemoNapeWañámAbitanaKumanáPacahanovoUrupáYarúTorá
eyetuku-chitoku-chitukichuːtükesitekisítokú
toothyati-chiyíaiyadi-cheyitinchiyititaiyatitiyetisiitisíyatí
tonguetapuitaka-chikapayakapikaka-chekabíkachukapiyakatikapiyakatikapiakasikapiakasíképiat
waterakumkomoakoakonkúmkumkumkomkom
fireiseicheiseiszeichéitsäichaiséiseːixé
sunhuapiitonapitomapitopapuitomapiitogwapirumapirúmapitókumémkomémapuetó
starhuiüiyaopipiyopil'ahupipiáoútinpiúpipiyóupiúupióupiúpipiyó
maizexadömapakal'aokal'aomapmapaːkmapaːkmapágmapámapák
jaguarkiñamineorahuikokiñamkiñókinamkinamkinámkomenwakara
bowparamipariparipaniparúparietsmenmapípmapipparí

Proto-language

Below are Proto-Chapacuran reconstructions from the Diachronic Atlas of Comparative Linguistics online, cited from Angenot de Lima. English glosses are from DiACL, and the original Portuguese glosses are from Angenot de Lima. For the full list of original Portuguese glosses, see the corresponding Portuguese article.