Mochica language

Last updated
Mochica
Yunga
Native to Peru
Region Lambayeque, and Jequetepeque
Extinct c.1920
Language codes
ISO 639-3 omc
omc
Glottolog moch1259
Mochica language.png
Approximate extent of Mochica before replacement by Spanish.

Mochica is an extinct language formerly spoken along the northwest coast of Peru and in an inland village. First documented in 1607, the language was widely spoken in the area during the 17th century and the early 18th century. By the late 19th century, the language was dying out and spoken only by a few people in the village of Etén, in Chiclayo. It died out as a spoken language around 1920, but certain words and phrases continued to be used until the 1960s. [1]

Contents

Classification

Mochica is usually considered to be a language isolate, [2] but has also been hypothesized as belonging to a wider Chimuan language family. Stark (1972) proposes a connection with Uru–Chipaya as part of a Maya–Yunga–Chipayan macrofamily hypothesis. [3]

Denominations

The yunga form is mentioned in the work of Fernando de la Carrera, "yunca" is another form mentioned by varieties of Quechua, "muchic" is only mentioned by the Augustinian father Antonio de la Calancha in 1638, in 1892 Ernst Middendorf it germanizes as "muchik", the form "chimu" is a hypothesis on the part of Middendorf in accordance with the knowledge of that time in the 19th century, when he considered Mochica as a language of the Chimos, but which is currently discarded because it is clearly the Quingnam language. An informal group called by linguistics neo-mochica uses the artificial form "muchik", when the most historically used form is "mochica" or "yunga".

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Trumai, Arawak, Kandoshi, Muniche, Barbakoa, Cholon-Hibito, Kechua, Mapudungun, Kanichana, and Kunza language families due to contact. Jolkesky (2016) also suggests that similarities with Amazonian languages may be due to the early migration of Mochica speakers down the Marañón and Solimões. [4]

Speakers

Funerary mask from Batan Grande (Sican culture). Mascara lambayeque ( museo de Sican).jpg
Funerary mask from Batán Grande (Sican culture).

It is proven and accepted by linguists that it was spoken by those of the Sican culture, it is not proven that it was spoken by those of the Moche culture, and it is ruled out that it was spoken by the chimos, since it is proven that they spoke Quingnam.

Varieties

The only varieties are according to each researcher who compiled their vocabulary, so we have the variety of Ernst Middendorf, Compañon, Bruning, etc.

Distribution according to the Art of the Yunga language

Distribution of the Mochica language according to the Art of the Yunga language Geolinguistica del mochica siglo XVII.jpg
Distribution of the Mochica language according to the Art of the Yunga language

According to the list of the vicar of Reque and author of the aforementioned Art, Fernando de la Carrera, the peoples who in 1644 spoke the Mochica language were as follows:

Typology

Mochica is typologically different from the other main languages on the west coast of South America, namely the Quechuan languages, Aymara, and the Mapuche language. Further, it contains rare features such as:

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental/
Alveolar
Post-
alveolar
Palatal Velar
Plosive p t c k
Affricate ts
Fricative ɸ ð s ʃ
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Trill r
Lateral glide l ʎ
fricative ɬ
Approximant w j

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i ɨ ~ ə u
Mid e o
Open a

Morphology

Some suffixes in Mochica as reconstituted by Hovdhaugen (2004): [7]

Lexicon

Some examples of lexical items in Mochica from Hovdhaugen (2004): [7]

Nouns

Possessed and non-possessed nouns in Mochica:

glosspossessed nounnon-possessed noun
'lord'çiecçiequic
'father'efefquic
'son'eizeizquic
'nostrils'fonfænquic
'eyes'locɥlucɥquic
'soul'moixmoixquic
'hand'mæcɥmæcɥquic
'farm'uizuizquic
'bread, food'xllonxllonquic
'head'falpængfalpic
'leg'tonængtonic
'human flesh'ærquengærquic
'ear' (but med in medec 'in the ears')medengmedquic
'belly, heart' (pol and polæng appear to be equivalents)polæng / polpolquic
'lawyer'capæcnencæpcæsscapæcnencæpæc
'heaven'cuçiascuçia
'dog'fanussfanu
'duck'fellussfellu
'servant'ianassyana
'sin'ixllæssixll
'ribbon'llaftussllaftu
'horse'colædcol
'fish'xllacædxllac
'(silver) money'xllaxllædxllaxll
'maiz'mangæmang
'ceiling'cɥapæncɥap
'creator'chicopæcæsschicopæc
'sleeping blanket'cunurcunuc
'chair' (< fel 'to sit')filurfiluc
'cup' (< man 'to drink, to eat')manirmanic
'toy' (< ñe(i)ñ 'to play')ñeñurñeñuc

Locative forms of Mochica nouns:

noun stemlocative form
fon 'nostrils'funæc 'in the nostrils'
loc 'foot'lucæc 'on the feet'
ssol 'forehead'ssulæc 'in the forehead'
locɥ 'eye'lucɥæc 'in the eyes'
mæcɥ 'hand'mæcɥæc 'in the hand'
far 'holiday'farræc 'on holidays'
olecɥ 'outside'olecɥæc 'outside'
ssap 'mouth'ssapæc 'in the mouth'
lecɥ 'head'lecɥæc 'on the head'
an 'house'enec 'in the house'
med 'ear'medec 'in the ears'
neiz 'night'ñeizac 'in the nights'
xllang 'sun'xllangic 'in the sun'

Quantifiers

Quantifiers in Mochica:

quantifiermeaning and semantic categories
felæppair (counting birds, jugs, etc.)
lucpair (counting plates, drinking vessels, cucumbers, fruits)
cɥoquixllten (counting fruits, ears of corn, etc.)
cæssten (counting days)
pongten (counting fruits, cobs, etc.)
ssopten (counting people, cattle, reed, etc., i.e. everything that is not money, fruits, and days)
chiænghundred (counting fruits, etc.)

Numerals

Mochica numerals:

NumeralMochica
1onæc, na-
2aput, pac-
3çopæl, çoc-
4nopæt, noc-
5exllmætzh
6tzhaxlltzha
7ñite
8langæss
9tap
10çiæcɥ, -pong, ssop, -fælæp, cɥoquixll
20pacpong, pacssop, etc.
30çocpong, çocssop, etc.
40nocpong, nocssop, etc.
50exllmætzhpong, exllmætzhssop, etc.
60tzhaxlltzhapong, tzhaxlltzhassop, etc.
70ñitepong, ñitessop, etc.
80langæsspong, langæssop, etc.
90tappong, tapssong, etc.
100palæc
1000cunô

Surviving records

Sheet music for the tonada del chimo
. Bajo y Tamboril para baylar cantando. Tonada del Chimo.jpg
Sheet music for the tonada del chimo.

The only surviving song in the language is a single tonada, Tonada del Chimo, preserved in the Codex Martínez Compañón among many watercolours illustrating the life of Chimú people during the 18th century:

1st voice: Ja ya llũnch, ja ya llõch
Ja ya llũnch, ja ya lloch[ sic ]
In poc cha tanmuisle pecan muisle pecan e necam

2nd voice: Ja ya llũnch, ja ya llõch
Ja ya llũnch

1st voice: E menspocehifama le qui
ten que consmuiſle Cuerpo lens
e menslocunmunom chi perdonar moitin Roc

2nd voice: Ja ya llõch
Ja ya llũnh,[sic] ja ya llõch

1st voice: Chondocolo mec checje su chriſto
po que si ta mali muis le cuer po[sic] lem.
lo quees aoscho perdonar
me ñe fe che tas

2nd voice: Ja ya llũnch, ja ya llõch
Ja ya llũnch, ja ya llõch

[8]

Quingnam, possibly the same as Lengua (Yunga) Pescadora, is sometimes taken to be a dialect, but a list of numerals was discovered in 2010 and is suspected to be Quingnam or Pescadora, not Mochica.

Comparison of the Mochica Our Father to demonstrate its characteristic of isolated language

It was common in the 19th century to relate Mochica mainly to Mandarin, Japanese [9] and Quechua. [10] Currently it is discarded and is considered an isolated language. [11] A simple way to check this is to use its our fathers for comparative linguistic purposes:

Verse in Matthew 6Mochica of the "Art of the Yunga Language" [12] Quechua [13] Japanese [14] Chinese [15] English [16]
9Mæich ef, acaz loc cuçiang nic, tzhæng oc mang licæm mæchaYayayku, hanaq pachakunapi kaq. Sutiyki muchasqa kachun.ten ni mashimasu warera no chichi yo, negawaku wa, mi na wo agamesase tamae.wǒmen zaì tiān shang de fù, yuàn rén dōu zūn nǐde míng wéi shèng .Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10piycan ñof tzhæng cuçias, eiæpmang tzhæng polæng mæn, mo æizi capæc cuçiang nic mæn.Qapaq kayniyki ñuqaykuman hamuchun. Munayniyki rurasqa kachun, imanam hanaq pachapihinataq, kay pachapipas.Mi kuni wo kitarase tamae. Mi kokoro no ten ni naru gotoku, chi ni mo nasase tamae.Yuàn nǐde guó jiànglín, yuàn nǐde zhǐyì xíng zaì dì shang, rútóng xíng zaì tiān shang .Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
11Aio ineng, inengô mæich xllon, piy can ñof allô mo lun.Punchawninkuna tantaykukta kunan quwayku.Warera no nichiyō no kate wo kyō mo atae tamaeWǒmen rìyòng de yǐnshí, jīnrì cìgĕi wǒmen .Give us this day our daily bread;
12Efque can ñof ixllæss aie aca naix efco xllãg muss eio mæich, çio mæn.Huchaykuktari pampachapuwayku, imanam nuqaykupas tutqayktunan huchallikuqlcunakta pampachaykuhina.Warera ni oime aru mono wo warera ga yurusu gotoku. Warera no oime wo mo yurushi tamae.Miǎn wǒmen de zhaì, rútóng wǒmen miǎn le rén de zhaì .And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors;
13Amoz tocæn ñof xllang muss emællæc zær enicnam næm lecɥ nan ef coñof pissin quichAmataq kachariwaykuchu watiqayman urmanqaykupaq. Yallinraq, mana allimanta qispichiwayku.Warera wo kokoromi ni awasezu, aku yori sukui idashi tamaeBú jiào wǒmen yùjiàn shìtan, jiù wǒmen tuōlí xiōngè, ( huò zuò tuōlí è zhĕ ) yīnwei guódù, quánbǐng, róngyào, quán shì nǐde, zhídào yǒngyuǎnAnd lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil.

Learning program

The Gestión de Cultura of Morrope in Peru has launched a program to learn this language, in order to preserve the ancient cultural heritage in the area. This program has been well received by people and adopted by many schools, and also have launched other activities such as the development of ceramics, mates, etc.

Further reading

Related Research Articles

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References

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  2. Campbell, Lyle (2012). "Classification of the indigenous languages of South America". In Grondona, Verónica; Campbell, Lyle (eds.). The Indigenous Languages of South America. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 2. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 59–166. ISBN   978-3-11-025513-3.
  3. Stark, Louisa R. (1972). "Maya-Yunga-Chipayan: A New Linguistic Alignment". International Journal of American Linguistics. 38 (2): 119–135. doi:10.1086/465193. ISSN   0020-7071. S2CID   145380780.
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  7. 1 2 Hovdhaugen, Even (2004). Mochica. Munich: LINCOM Europa.
  8. "Bajo y Tamboril para baylar cantando. [Índice:] Tonada del Chimo.". Trujillo del Perú . Volumen 2 (in Spanish). Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes. p. 180. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
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  12. Salas García, J. A. (30 June 2011). "El Padre Nuestro en la lengua mochica". Boletín de la Academia Peruana de la Lengua: 69–111. doi:10.46744/bapl.201101.002. ISSN   2708-2644.
  13. Tavárez, D. (14 December 2017). Words and Worlds Turned Around: Indigenous Christianities in Colonial Latin America. University Press of Colorado. p. 88. ISBN   978-1-60732-684-7.
  14. Shin yaku zensho : New Testament in romaji, being a transliteration of the Japanese Authorized Version. American Bible Society, Japan Agency. 1904. p. 11.
  15. Matthew 6 of the Chinese Pinyin Bible , retrieved 7 April 2024
  16. The Holy Bible. RSVCE , retrieved 13 April 2024