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A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America, Tiwi in Australia and Burushaski in Pakistan are all examples of such languages. The exact number of language isolates is yet unknown due to insufficient data on several languages.
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 Tequistlatec languages, also called Chontal, are three close but distinct languages spoken or once spoken by the Chontal people of Oaxaca State, Mexico.
Panare is a Cariban language, spoken by the Panare, who number 3,000–4,000 and live in Bolivar State in central Venezuela. Their main area is South of the town of Caicara del Orinoco, south of the Orinoco River. There are several subdialects of the language. The autonym for this language and people is e'ñapá, which has various senses depending on context, including 'people', 'indigenous-people', and 'Panare-people'. The term "Panare" itself is a Tupí word that means "friend." It is unusual in having object–verb–agent as one of its main word orders, the other being the more common verb–agent–object. It also displays the typologically uncommon property of an ergative–absolutive alignment in the non-perfective aspects and a nominative–accusative alignment in perfective aspect.
Yanomaman, also as Yanomam, Yanomáman, Yamomámi, and Yanomamana, is a family of languages spoken by about 20,000 Yanomami people in southern Venezuela and northwestern Brazil.
Pano-Tacanan is a proposed family of languages spoken in Peru, western Brazil, Bolivia and northern Paraguay. There are two close-knit branches, Panoan and Tacanan, with 33 languages. There are lexical and grammatical similarities between the two branches, but it has not yet been demonstrated that these are genetic.
Panoan is a family of languages spoken in western Brazil, eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia. It is possibly a branch of a larger Pano–Tacanan family.
Tacanan is a family of languages spoken in Bolivia, with Ese’ejja also spoken in Peru. It may be related to the Panoan languages. Many of the languages are endangered.
Shipibo is a Panoan language spoken in Peru and Brazil by approximately 26,000 speakers. Shipibo is a recognized indigenous language of Peru.
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.
Cashibo, Cacataibo, Cashibo-Cacataibo, Managua, or Hagueti is an indigenous language of Peru in the region of the Aguaytía, San Alejandro, and Súngaro rivers. It belongs to the Panoan language family.
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.
Harakmbut or Harakmbet is the native language of the Harakmbut people of Peru. It is spoken along the Madre de Dios and Colorado Rivers, in the pre-contact country of the people. There are two dialects that remain vital: Amarakaeri (Arakmbut) and Watipaeri (Huachipaeri), which are reported to be mutually intelligible. The relationship between speakers of the two dialects is hostile.
Sechura–Catacao is a proposed connection between the small Catacaoan language family of Peru and the language isolate Sechura (Sek). The languages are extremely poorly known, but Kaufman (1990) finds the connection convincing, Campbell (2012) persuasive.
The Tiniwan languages are two extinct and one moribund language of Colombia that form a small family.
Puruhá and Campbell (2012) is a poorly attested extinct language of the Marañón River basin in Ecuador which is difficult to classify, apart from being apparently related to Cañari, though it may have been Barbacoan.
Guachí (Wachí) is an extinct, apparently Guaicuruan language of Argentina. It is usually classified as one of the Guaicuruan languages, but the data is insufficient to demonstrate that.
Payaguá (Payawá) is an extinct language of Paraguay, Argentina, and Bolivia, spoken by the Payaguá Indians. It is usually classified as one of the Guaicuruan languages, but the data is insufficient to demonstrate that.
The indigenous languages of the Americas form various linguistic areas or Sprachbunds that share various common (areal) traits. The following list of linguistic areas is primarily based on Campbell.
The indigenous languages of South America are those whose origin dates back to the pre-Columbian era. The subcontinent has great linguistic diversity, but, as the number of speakers of indigenous languages is diminishing, it is estimated that it could become one of the least linguistically diverse regions of the planet.
References
- ↑ Campbell, Lyle; Grondona, Verónica (2012-01-27). The Indigenous Languages of South America: A Comprehensive Guide. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 148–149. ISBN 978-3-11-025803-5.
- ↑ Campbell, Lyle (March 2003). "On South American Indian languages: reply to Aikhenvald". Journal of Linguistics. 39 (1): 141–146. doi:10.1017/S0022226702211950. ISSN 1469-7742.
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