Cueva language

Last updated
Cueva
Native to Panama
Region Darién
Ethnicity Cueva people
Extinct 16th century
unclassified
(Chocoan?
Chibchan?
Arawakan? [1] )
Language codes
ISO 639-3 None (mis)
Glottolog cuev1238

Cueva was an Indigenous language of Panama, now extinct, with limited attestation and often misclassified within linguistic studies. [2] The Cueva people experienced a significant population decline between 1510 and 1535 due to conflicts, diseases, and the effects of Spanish colonization. By the 17th and 18th centuries, the Guna had migrated into the former Cueva territory, repopulating the area.

Contents

Classification

Loukotka [3] mistakenly identified a Guna vocabulary from the Darién as Cueva, leading to confusion of Cueva with Guna in subsequent literature [4] , with some authors reporting that Cueva was a dialect of or ancestral to the Guna language [5] . The Guna language and culture are very different from the Cueva.

Loewren [6] and Constenla Umaña & Margery Peña [7] have suggested a connection between Cueva and the Chocoan family.

Bibliography

References

  1. Baquero, Alvaro (1987), "Los de la lengua de Cueva: Los grupos indígenas del istmo oriental en la época de la conquista española – por Kathleen Romoli (review)", Boletín Museo del Oro (in Spanish), 19, Museo del Oro: 141–142, retrieved 2025-03-20 via Banrepcultural
  2. Quesada Pacheco, Miguel Ángel (2024). La lengua cueva (Panamá, siglo XVI). LINCOM Studies in native american linguistics. München: LINCOM. ISBN   978-3-96939-174-7.
  3. Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages . Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
  4. (e.g. Greenberg 1987, Whitehead 1999, Ethnologue 2009)
  5. (Adelaar & Muysken 2004:62)
  6. (Loewren 1963)
  7. (Constenla Umaña & Margery Peña 1991)