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This is a list of different language classification proposals developed for the Indigenous languages of the Americas or Amerindian languages. The article is divided into North, Central, and South America sections; however, the classifications do not correspond to these divisions.
The Alacalufan languages or Kawesqaran languages are a small language family of South America. They have not been definitely linked to any other American language family.
The Araucanian languages are a small language family of indigenous languages of the Americas spoken in central Chile and neighboring areas of Argentina. The living representatives of this family are Mapudungun and Huilliche, spoken respectively by the Mapuche and Huilliche people. These are usually considered divergent dialects of a single language isolate.
Munichi is an extinct language which was spoken in the village of Munichis, about 10 miles (16 km) west of Yurimaguas, Loreto Region, Peru. In 1988, there were two mother-tongue speakers, but they had not met since the 1970s. The last known fluent speaker, Victoria Huancho Icahuate, died in the late 1990s. As of 2009 there were several semi-speakers who retained significant lexical, and partial grammatical, knowledge of the language.
The Chicham languages, also known as Jivaroan is a small language family of northern Peru and eastern Ecuador.
Guaicuruan is a language family spoken in northern Argentina, western Paraguay, and Brazil. The speakers of the languages are often collectively called the Guaycuru peoples. For the most part, the Guaycuruans lived in the Gran Chaco and were nomadic and warlike, until finally subdued by the various countries of the region in the 19th century.
Zaparoan is an endangered language family of Peru and Ecuador with fewer than 100 speakers. Zaparoan speakers seem to have been very numerous before the arrival of the Europeans. However, their groups have been decimated by imported diseases and warfare, and only a handful of them have survived.
Chimuan or Yuncan is a hypothetical small extinct language family of northern Peru and Ecuador.
The Aguano are a people of Peru. In 1959, they consisted of 40 families. They inhabit the lower Huallaga and upper Samiria Rivers, and the right bank tributary of the Marañon River.
Chamicuro is an extinct South American language formerly spoken in Peru. The language was used by the Chamicuro people, who number around one hundred people. The Chamicuros currently live on a tributary of the Huallaga river, in Peru, in an area called Pampa Hermosa, though many had been dislocated to the Yavarí and Napo Rivers and to Brazil.
Katukinan (Catuquinan) is a language family consisting of two languages in Brazil, Katukina-Kanamarí and the perhaps moribund Katawixi. It is often not clear which names in the literature, which are generally tribal names and often correspond to dialects, refer to distinct languages. Indeed, they're close enough that some consider them all to be dialects of a single language, Kanamari.
Witotoan is a small language family of southeastern Colombia and the neighbouring region of Peru.
The Nambikwaran languages are a language family of half a dozen languages, all spoken in the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil. They have traditionally been considered dialects of a single language, but at least three of them are mutually unintelligible.
Warao is the native language of the Warao people. A language isolate, it is spoken by about 33,000 people primarily in northern Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname. It is notable for its unusual object–subject–verb word order. The 2015 Venezuelan film Gone with the River was spoken in Warao.
The Aimoré, Botocudoan or Borum languages, now sometimes known as Krenakan after the last one remaining, are a branch of the Macro-Jê languages – spoken mainly in Brazil – including moribund Krenak and extinct languages such as Guerén and Nakrehé. Loukotka (1968) considered them dialects of a single language, but more recent treatments describe at least some of them as separate languages.
The Kamakã languages are a small family of extinct Macro-Jê languages of Bahía, northeastern Brazil. The attested Kamakã languages are:
Chimané (Tsimane') is a South American language isolate. Some dialects are known as Mosetén. Chimane is a language of the western Bolivian lowlands spoken by the Tsimane peoples along the Beni River and the region around San Borja in the Department of Beni (Bolivia). Sakel (2004) classifies them as two languages for a number of reasons, yet some of the variants of the language are mutually intelligible and they reportedly have no trouble communicating and were evidently a single language separated recently through cultural contact.
Otuke is an extinct language of the Macro-Jê family, related to Bororo. Otuke territory included what is now the Otuquis National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area in eastern Bolivia.
Ingain is an extinct Jê language of Brazil, closely related to the Southern Jê languages Kaingáng and Laklãnõ (Xokléng). Kimdá may have been a dialect. Ingain was spoken along the middle Paraná River, from the Iguatemi River in the north to the Arroyo Yabebiry in the south.
Waitaká is an extinct language of Brazil, on the São Mateus River and near Cabo de São Tomé in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Dialects, or at least tribal divisions, were Mopi, Yacorito, Wasu, and Miri. Loukotka (1968) suggests it may have been one of the Purian languages, though others consider this classification "circumstantial".
References
- 1 2 Aguano at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
- ↑ Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages . Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
- ↑ Julian Steward (1946) Handbook of South American Indians, vol. 3, p. 271, 558
- ↑ Campbell, Lyle, and Verónica Grondona (eds). 2012. The indigenous languages of South America: a comprehensive guide. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
- ↑ Mason, J. Alden. 1950. The languages of South America. In: Julian Steward (ed.), Handbook of South American Indians, Volume 6, 157–317. (Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143.) Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
