Charruan languages

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Charruan
EthnicityChaná people, Charrúa people, Guenoa people
Geographic
distribution		Argentina (Entre Ríos Province)
Brazil (formerly)
Uruguay (formerly)
Linguistic classificationisolated (several classifications exist)
  • Charruan
Subdivisions
Glottologchar1238
Mapa indígena.png
Pre-contact distribution of the Charruan languages

The Charruan languages are a group of languages once spoken in Uruguay and the Argentine province of Entre Ríos. In 2005, a semi-speaker of the Chaná language, Blas Wilfredo Omar Jaime, was found in Entre Ríos Province, Argentina.[1]

Internal coherence[]

Charruan may actually consist of two or three unrelated families according to Nikulin (2019).[2] Nikulin notes that many of the following languages share very few basic vocabulary items with each other.

  1. Chaná as spoken by Blas Wilfredo Omar Jaime
  2. Chaná of Larrañaga (1923)[3]
  3. Charrúa of Vilardebó (1842)
  4. Güenoa from a short 18th-century catechesis quoted by Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro[4]

Languages[]

Four languages are considered to definitively belong to the Charruan language family, basically Chañá (Lanték), Nbeuá, Charrúa and Guenoa.[5]

  • Chaná
    • Lanték Yañá (proper name of Chaná language)
    • Yañá Nbeuá (the wrongly named "Mbeguá", "Beguá", "Chaná-Beguá", etc.)
    • Yañá Ntimpúc (the wrongly named "Timbúes", "Chaná TImbúes", "Timbó", "Chaná timbó", etc.)
  • Charrúa
  • Güenoa

A number of unattested languages are also presumed to belong to the Charruan family:[5]

  • Bohane – spoken near Maldonado, or Salto, in Uruguay
  • Calchine – spoken in Santa Fe Province, Argentina, along the Salado River
  • Caracañá – spoken along the Caracañá River, Santa Fe
  • Chaná-Mbegua or Begua – spoken on the Paraná River between Crespo and Victoria
  • Colastiné – spoken in Santa Fe Province near Colastiné
  • Corondá – spoken in Coronda, Santa Fe Province
  • Guaiquiaré – spoken in Entre Ríos on the Arroyo Guaiquiraré
  • Mocoreta or Macurendá or Mocolete – spoken along the Mocoretá River in Entre Ríos Province
  • Pairindi – spoken in Entre Ríos from Corrientes to the Feliciano River
  • Timbu – spoken in Gaboto, Santa Fe Province
  • Yaro – spoken in Uruguay between the Río Negro and the San Salvador River

Genetic relations[]

Jorge Suárez includes Charruan with Guaicuruan in a hypothetical Waikuru-Charrúa stock. Morris Swadesh includes Charruan along with Guaicuruan, Matacoan, and Mascoyan within his Macro-Mapuche stock. Both proposals appear to be obsolete.

Vocabulary comparison[]

The Charruan languages are poorly attested. However, sufficient vocabulary has been gathered for the languages to be compared:[5][6]

English Charrua Chaná Güenoa
me m' mi-tí hum
you m' mutí /em/ baté m
we rampti/ am-ptí rambuí
eye i-hou ocál
ear i-mau / i-man timó
mouth ej hek / obá
hand guar nam
foot / toe atit eté
water hué atá
sun dioi
dog lohán agó
white huok
one yú u-gil / ngui yut
two sam usan / amá
three detí / datit detit / heít detit
know sepé seker
good / nice bilú oblí / oblé
brother/sister inchalá nchalá
friend huamá uamá
why? / how? retám retanle*
who? ua-reté
past (suf.) ndau / nden edam


Lexical comparison from Nikulin (2019):[2]

gloss Chana (Jaime) Charrúa Chana (Larranaga 1923) Guenoa
we ampti / am-, rampti rambui
give ará da.jú
sun dioi diói
go nderé bajiná 'to walk' do
thou empti em- / m-
one gilí / güi yú ~ yu gil: ugil 'único' yut isa 'only one'
who guareptí guárete
sand lgorí han
mouth uvá ej hek
that huati / huat-
white noá huóc
good latár
hear timotéc montéc
come nderé na
not reé =mén
what r'eca 'what', r'epti retant 'how many?'
two amá sam ~ sán san
know seker, sekér
see solá 'mirar'
mountain to e
woman adá ukái / kái 'female'
I ytí / i- ~ y-
all opá
sleep utalá ando diabun 'vamos a dormir'
foot vedé verá atit
kill ña aú
go nderé bajiná 'to walk' do
stand reé utalá basquadé 'levantarse'
mouth uvá ej hek
hand nam guar
moon aratá guidai
water atá hué
nose utí ibar
eye ocál ijou
ear timó imau
head ta ~ ta ug vedé is
hair moni itaj
fire yogüín it
dog agó samayoí
two amá sam ~ sán san
one gilí / güi yú ~ yu gil: ugil 'único' yut isa 'only one'
person ëewuit edam
who guareptí guárete
die ña hallen
name hapatam 'his name'
we ampti / am-, rampti rambui
what r'eca 'what', r'epti retant 'how many?'
one gilí / güi yú ~ yu gil: ugil 'único' yut isa 'only one'

References[]

  1. ^ La Nación, "Investigan los orígenes de una extraña lengua indígena". 2005-07-01.
  2. ^ a b 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.
  3. ^ Larrañaga, Dámaso Antonio. 1923. Compendio del idioma de la nación chaná. In Escritos de D. Dámaso A. Larrañaga, tomo III, 163-174. Montevideo: Instituto Histórico y Geográfico del Uruguay, Imprenta Nacional.
  4. ^ Hervás y Panduro, Lorenzo. 1787. Saggio Pratico delle lingue. (Idea dell'Universo, XXI.) Cesena: Gregorio Biasini all'Insengna di Pallade. 255pp.
  5. ^ a b c Loukotka, Čestmír (1968), Classification of South American Indian Languages, Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center
  6. ^ This comparison table is a revision by Br. José Damián Torko Gómez, based on the J.C. Sábat Pébet and J.J. Figueira compilation of all terms known of the "Uruguayan" aboriginal languages. Source: https://www.estudioshistoricos-en.edu.uy/assets/080-boletín-histórico-nº-120---123---año-1969.pdf[permanent dead link]
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