Catacaoan languages

Catacaoan
Geographic distribution	Piura Region, Peru
Linguistic classification	Sechura–Catacao? Catacaoan
Subdivisions	Catacao † Colan † Chira† (unattested)
Language codes
Glottolog	tall1235  (individual languages covered by Tallán)
Location of the Catacaoan languages within Piura Region [1]

The Catacaoan languages are an extinct family of three languages spoken in the Piura Region of Peru. The three languages in the family are: ^[1]

• Catacao or Katakao, once spoken around the city of Catacaos
• Colán or Kolán, once spoken between the Piura River and Chira River
• Chira or Lachira or Tangarará, once spoken along the Chira River. It is unattested.
• Terrence Kaufman includes the Leco language in the Catacaoan group.

Catacao and Colán are frequently subsumed into the extinct Tallán language as dialects, thus making the Catacaoan family synonymous with Tallán. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Vocabulary comparison

Colan and Catacao vocabulary ^{[5] [6]}

English	Colan	Catacao
drink	kum	konekuk
heart	ñessini-m	ñiesiñi-čim
water	yup	yup
woman	pi-m	pi-čim
fire	huyur	guanararak
daughter	hiku-m	yku-čim kapuk
son	hiku-m	yku-čim
river	yup 'water'	tuyurup
brother	pua-m	pua-čim
grass	aguakol	taguakol
man	yatadla-m	aszat
moon	nag	nam
eat	agua	agua-čim
sea	amum	amaum
mother	nu-m	ni-čim
dead	dlakati	ynata-klakatu
bird	yaiau	yeya
bone	dladlapi-ram	lalape-čen
rain (v.)	ñar	ñarakñakitutin
rain (n.)	nug	guayakinum
fish	llas	llas
branch	yabiti-ram	yabike
rule (v.)	čañar	čañak
sister	puru-m	puru-čim
sun	turinap	nap
earth	dlurum	durum
trunk	tuku-ram	taksikáas
wind	kuiat ñap	vik

Genetic relations

Loukota compares Catacaoan to the Culle language and the Sechura language but distinguishes them from all other families. ^[5]

References

1. Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian Languages . Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
2. Miyaoka, Osahito; Sakiyama, Osamu; Krauss, Michael E., eds. (2007). The vanishing languages of the Pacific rim. Oxford linguistics. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-926662-3. OCLC   71004259.
3. "Glottolog 5.1 - Tallán". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
4. Urban, Matthias (2019). "The Tallán languages". Lost languages of the Peruvian north coast. Estudios Indiana. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag. pp. 73–96. ISBN   978-3-7861-2826-7. OCLC   1090545680.
5. Loukotka, Čestmír (1949). "Sur quelques langues inconnues de l'Amérique du Sud" (PDF). Lingua Posnaniensis (in French). 1: 53–82.
6. Loukotka was based in the list of the bishop Baltasar Jaime Martínez Compañón: «43 voces castellanas traducidas alas ocho lenguas que hablan los indios de la costa, sierra y montañas del obispado de Trujillo del Perú, por el obispo de esta misma ciudad, baltazar Martinez de Compañón», written circa 1780.