Chimuan languages

Chimuan (also Chimúan) or Yuncan (Yunga–Puruhá, Yunca–Puruhán) is a hypothetical small extinct language family of northern Peru and Ecuador (inter-Andean valley).

Family division
Chimuan consisted of three attested languages:


 * Chimuan
 * Mochica (a.k.a. Yunga, Chimú)
 * Cañar–Puruhá
 * Cañari (a.k.a. Cañar, Kanyari)
 * Puruhá (a.k.a. Puruwá, Puruguay)

All languages are now extinct.

Campbell (2012) classifies Mochica and Cañar–Puruhá each as separate language families.

Mochica was one of the major languages of pre-Columbian South America. It was documented by Fernando de la Carrera and Middendorff in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries respectively. It became extinct ca. 1950, although some people remember a few words. Adelaar & Muysken (2004) consider Mochica a language isolate for now.

Cañari and Puruhá are documented with only a few words. These two languages are usually connected with Mochica. However, as their documentation level is so low, it may not be possible to confirm this association. According to Adelaar & Muysken (2004), Jijón y Caamaño's evidence of their relationship is only a single word: Mochica nech "river", Cañari necha; based on similarities with neighboring languages, he finds a Barbacoan connection more likely.

Quingnam, possibly the same language as Lengua (Yunga) Pescadora, is sometimes taken to be a dialect of Mochica, but it is unattested, unless a list of numerals discovered in 2010 turns out to be Quingnam or Pescadora as expected. Those numerals are not, however, Mochica.

Mason (1950)
Yunca-Puruhán (Chimuan) internal classification by Mason (1950):


 * Yunca–Puruhán
 * Yuncan
 * North group (Puruhá-Cañari)
 * Puruhá
 * Canyari (Cañari)
 * Manabila (Mantenya)
 * South group (Yunca)
 * Yunga
 * Morropé
 * Eten (?)
 * Chimu
 * Mochica (Chincha)
 * Chanco
 * Atalán
 * Wancavilca (Huancavilca)
 * Mania
 * Tumbez
 * Puna
 * Carake: Apichiki, Cancebi

Mason (1950) also included Atalán, which is no longer considered to be part of the Yunca-Puruhán (Chimuan) family.

Tovar (1961)
Tovar (1961), partly based on Schmidt (1926), adds Tallán (Sechura–Catacao) to Chimuan (which he calls Yunga-Puruhá). Tovar's (1961) classification below is cited from Stark (1972).


 * Yunga–Puruhá
 * Northern (Puruha-Cañari)
 * Puruhá
 * Cañari
 * Central (Tallán)
 * Sec
 * Sechura
 * Colán
 * Catacaos
 * Southern
 * Yunga

Proposed external relationships
Stark (1972) proposed a Maya–Yunga–Chipayan macrofamily linking Mayan with Uru–Chipaya and Yunga (Mochica).

Vocabulary
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for the Chimuan languages.


 * {| class="wikitable sortable"

! gloss !! Chimú !! Eten !! Cañari !! Puruhá ! one ! two ! head ! hand ! water ! fire ! sun ! maize ! bird ! jaguar ! fish ! house
 * onkó || unik || ||
 * atput || atput || || pax
 * lek || xäts || gíchan ||
 * möch || metsan || ||
 * leng || xa || kay || la
 * hog || óx || ||
 * sheang || sheang || chán ||
 * aixa || mang || || manga
 * ñaíñ || ñaíñ || || ñay
 * räk || rak || guagal || guagua
 * shl'ak || t'ak || || shl'ak
 * ánik || an || án || án
 * }