Mochica language
Mochica is an extinct language formerly spoken along the northern coast of Peru and in an inland village. First documented in 1607, the language was widely spoken in the area during the 17th century and the early 18th century. By the late 19th century, the language was dying out and spoken only by a few people in the village of Etén, in Chiclayo. It died out as a spoken language around 1920, but certain words and phrases continued to be used until the 1960s. A revival movement has appeared in recent times, and it is now taught in schools.
Mochica was spoken by those of the Sican culture, but it is not proven that it was spoken by those of the Moche culture, and it is ruled out that it was spoken by the Chimos, as they spoke Quingnam.
The only varieties are according to each researcher who compiled their vocabulary, so we have the variety of Ernst Middendorf, Compañon, Bruning, etc.
Denominations
Colonial sources record several designations for the language now generally known as Mochica: Yunga, Mochica, Muchic / Muchik, and occasional appellatives such as Pescadora. The choice of name varied according to author, period, and context.The Franciscan friar Luis Jerónimo de Oré in his Rituale seu Manuale Peruanum refers to the "Mochica" language and also uses the phrase “Mochica de los Yungas”. In the latter case, he seems to distinguish between the language itself —called Mochica— and the northern peoples —denominated Yungas. It is worth noting that at the time Yunga was employed not only as a geographic and climatic term, derived from Quechua exonym yunka, but also to refer to the Mochica as an ethnic group.
In 1644, the diocesan priest and parish vicar of Reque published the , the only known colonial grammar of this language, where he consistently used the exonym Yunga. His choice reflects the fact that Yunga was, in the colonial lexicon, the Spanish designation for the coastal peoples, regions, and languages.
The Augustinian friar Antonio de la Calancha employed the form Muchic in his Crónica moralizadora. In the nineteenth century, the German physician and philologist Ernst W. Middendorf revived that variant and disseminated it as Muchik in works such as Das Muchik oder die Chimu-Sprache. Middendorf identified the language with that of the Chimú, partly because Quingnam was at that time poorly documented, whereas colonial references and traces of Mochica still existed. Furthermore, nineteenth-century archaeology often grouped Sicán and Moche material into stages labeled “proto-Chimú” or “early Chimú,” which reinforced the misattribution. Later archaeological and linguistic research clarified these associations.
In sum, Mochica, Yunga, Muchic/Muchik, and occasionally Pescadora appear in the sources and scholarly tradition. Today, Mochica remains the most widely used term in academic literature, while some revitalization projects prefer Muchik, consciously drawing on colonial spellings and nineteenth-century usage.
Classification
Mochica is usually considered to be a language isolate, but has also been hypothesized as belonging to a wider Chimuan language family. Stark proposes a connection with Uru–Chipaya as part of a Maya–Yunga–Chipayan macrofamily hypothesis.Geographic distribution
According to the list of the vicar of Reque and author of the aforementioned Art, Fernando de la Carrera, the peoples who in 1644 spoke the Mochica language were as follows:- In the corregimiento of Trujillo: Santiago, Magdalena de Cao, Chocope, Chicama valley, Paiján.
- In the corregimiento of Saña: San Pedro de Lloc, Chepén, Jequetepeque, Guadalupe, Pueblo Nuevo, Etén, Chiclayo, San Miguel, Santa Lucía, Parish of Saña, Lambayeque with four rooms, Reque, Monsefú, Ferreñafe, Túcume, Illimo, Pacora, Mórrope and Jayanca.
- In the corregimiento of Piura: Motupe, Salas, Copis, Frías and Huancabamba.
- In the corregimiento of Cajamarca: Santa Cruz, San Miguel de la Sierra, Ñopos, San Pablo, the doctrine of the rafts of the Marañón, a bias of Cajamarca, Cachén, Guambos and many other places in the Cajamarca mountain range, such as the Condebamba valley.
Language contact
Learning program
The Cultural Office of the district of Mórrope has launched a program to teach the Mochica language in an effort to preserve the region’s ancient cultural legacy. The initiative has been well received by local residents and adopted by numerous schools. Additional cultural activities—such as the crafting of ceramics and decorated gourds —have also been introduced as part of the revitalization effort.Previously considered a dead language, Mochica is now taught in 38 schools and has around 80 speakers.
Phonology and orthography
The phonology of Mochica is not known with certainty due to the differing transcriptions used by different authors. In addition, the two primary sources on Mochica were recorded over 200 years apart, with significant phonetic changes having occurred during that time.Vowels
Carrera Daza (1644)
Carrera Daza distinguishes six vowels in Mochica, represented as, with the latter sometimes being written as in different editions of his grammar. This vowel is characterized as "begin as an e and end as a u, in such a way that there are two vowels in one". A diacritic is used to indicate length, though it is mainly restricted to a few roots and the ending -ô, used in the genitive construction.The letter is sometimes used as a palatalization marker by Carrera Daza, and diphthongs did not occur in the Mochica of his time.
Middendorf (1892)
In contrast, Middendorf recognizes 17 vowels, including 11 plain vowels, two "impure" vowels, and four diphthongs. The impure vowels are written as and. Middendorf admits that he was never able to correctly pronounce them, but characterizes them similarly to the of Carrera Daza. is described with a very fleeting u sound, such that in rapid speech it would sound similar to or. is described as reminiscent of the diphthong.The sixth vowel
The vowel represented by is hotly debated in the field of Mochica studies. As no sound recordings of Mochica exist, and because the existing descriptions are rather vague, the true phonetic value cannot be discerned and any interpretations remain completely hypothetical. One hypothesis is that the sixth vowel was, commonly found in Amazonian languages. Other hypotheses have given realizations of and.A comparison table of the vowels in Carrera Daza and Middendorf is given below.
| Carrera Daza | a, â | e | i | o, ô | u, û | œ/æ |
| Middendorf | a, ā, ă | e | ī,, ĭ | ō,, ŏ | u, ū, ŭ | ä, ů |
Thus, a vowel system of Mochica would resemble the table below: