Lencan languages


The Lencan languages are a small linguistic family from Central America, whose speakers before the Spanish conquest spread throughout El Salvador and Honduras. But by the beginning of the 20th century, only two languages of the family survived, Salvadoran Lenca or Potón and Honduran Lenca, which were described and studied academically; Of them, only Salvadoran Lenca still has current speakers, despite the fact that Indigenous people belonging to the Lenca ethnic group exceed between 37,000 and 100,000 people.

Languages

There are two attested Lencan languages:
The languages are not closely related; Swadesh estimated 3,000 years since separation. Arguedas Cortés reconstructs Proto-Lencan with 12 consonants and 5 vowels.

External relationships

The external relationships of the Lencan languages are disputed. Inclusion within Macro-Chibchan has often been proposed; Campbell reported that he found no solid evidence for such a connection, but Constenla-Umaña proposed regular correspondence between Lencan, Misumalpan, and Chibchan.
Campbell acknowledges that these claims of connection between Lencan, Misumalpan, and Chibchan have not yet been proved systematically, but he notes that Constenla-Umaña "presented evidence to support a relationship with two neighboring families : Misumalpan and Lencan, which constitute the Lenmichí Micro-Phylum. According to Constenla-Umaña's study, the Lenmichi Micro-Phylum first split into Proto-Chibchan and Proto-Misulencan, the common intermediate ancestor of the Lencan and the Misumalpan languages. This would have happened around 9,726 years before the present or 7,720 B.C....The respective subancestors of the Lencan and the Misumalpan languages would have separated around 7,705 before the present, and Paya and the other intermediate ancestors of all the other Chibchan languages would have separated around 6,682."
Another proposal by Lehmann links Lencan with the Xincan language family, though Campbell rejects most of Lehmann's twelve lexical comparisons as invalid. An automated computational analysis by Müller et al. also found lexical similarities between Lencan and Xincan. However, since the analysis was automatically generated, the grouping could be either due to mutual lexical borrowing or genetic inheritance.

History

The Proto-Lencan homeland was most likely in central Honduras.
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the use of Honduran Lenca and Salvadoran Lenca began to decline. In the 1950s, Honduran Lenca was already in a critical state of extinction, since the only place where there were speakers was Guajiquiro. In 1982 a Honduran Lenca speaker was found in Guajiquiro. In the 1970s, died in Chilanga, Anselmo Hernández, the last competent Salvadoran Lenca speaker. In the 1990s, some semi-speakers of Honduran Lenca were found. It was assumed that the languages were most likely extinct, and it was believed that it was very unlikely that there were any elders with any knowledge or memory of both languages, and it was also believed that it was very unlikely that fluent speakers could be found. The Honduran Lenca is currently believed to be extinct.
In the case of Salvadoran Lenca, in the end of the nineties Consuelo Roque, linguist from the University of El Salvador, found Mario Salvador Hernández from Guatajiagua and both would write a learning primer titled in spanish: Poton piau, nuestra lengua Potón. However, linguist Alan R. King, in his 2016 book titled in spanish Conozcamos el Lenca, una lengua de El Salvador, points out that, which is a compilation of words in Lenca among the communities still existing that opens the possibility of recovering a significant part of the language. Currently in El Salvador there are rehabilitation projects for Salvadoran Lenca to prevent its extinction.
A 2002 novel by Roberto Castillo, La guerra mortal de los sentidos, chronicles the adventures of the "Searcher for the Lenca Language."

Proto-language

Proto-Lenca reconstructions by Arguedas :
No.Spanish gloss
English gloss
Proto-Lenca
1.abriropen *inkolo-
2.aguawater*was
3.ancianaold woman
4.arañaspider*katu
5.ardillasquirrel*suri
6.bailardance*uli-
7.bañarbathe*twa-
8.beberdrink*tali-
9.blancowhite*soko
10.bocamouth*in
11.buenogood*sam
12.cabellohair*asak
13.caitessandals*waktik
14.camarónshrimp*siksik
15.caminopath*k’in
16.casahouse*t’aw
17.cerrarclose *inkap-
18.cincofive*ts’aj
19.comalcomal*k’elkin
20.comprarbuy*liwa-
21.cortarcut*tajk-
22.coyolcoyol*juku
23.coyotecoyote*sua
24.chuparsuck
25.decirsay*aj-
26.desearwant*saj
27.dientetooth*nek
28.dostwo*pe
29.élhe*inani
30.enfermo, estarsick*ona-
31.espinathorn*ma
32.estethis*na
33.estrellastar*sirik
34.florflower*sula
35.fuegofire*juk’a
36.grandebig*pukV
37.guacaltub*k’akma
38.hermanobrother*pelek
39.hígadoliver*muts’u
40.hormigaant*its’its’i
41.huesobone*ts’ek
42.irgo*o-
43.jocotejocote*muraka
44.lavarwash*ts’ajk-
45.leñafirewood*sak
46.lluviarain*so
47.machomale*kew
48.maízcorn*ajma
49.mapachínraccoon*wala
50.milpacornfield*ta
51.montañamountain*kotan
52.movermove*lum-
53.nariznose*nep
54.niñoboy*we
55.nosotroswe*apinani
56.nubecloud
57.oírhear*eni-
58.orinarurinate*wajsa-
59.pavoturkey*lok
60.peinecomb*tenmaskin
61.pelo, plumahair, feather
62.perrodog*su
63.picopeak*ints’ek
64.piedrastone*ke
65.piñapineapple*mats’ati
66.piojolouse*tem
67.puerco de montewild pig*map’it, *nap’it
68.pulgaflea*t’ut’u
69.quebrachoquebracho tree*sili
70.quiénwho*k’ulan
71.reírlaugh*jolo-
72.ríoriver*wara
73.robleoak*mal
74.ropaclothes*lam-
75.rostroface*tik
76.saberknow*ti-
77.seissix*wi
78.sembrarsow*isa-
79.tapesco, camabed frame, bed*le-
80.tigre, león tiger, lion *lepa
81.tocartouch*jete-
82.trabajarwork
83.tresthree*lawa
84.túyou *amanani
85.uñafingernail*kumam
86.venircome*po-
87.yoI*unani
88.zarigüeyaopossum*ts’ewe
89.zopilotevulture*kus