Chimuan (also Chimúan) or Yuncan (Yunga–Puruhá, Yunca–Puruhán) is a hypothetical small extinct language family of northern Peru and Ecuador in the inter-Andean valley. They are held to comprise the Mochica (Yunga), Cañari–Puruhá, and Huancavilca.
Family division Chimuan is proposed to be consisted of at least three attested languages:
Chimuan Mochica ( Yunga, Chimú) Cañari–Puruhá Cañari ( Cañar, Kanyari) Puruhá ( Puruwá, Puruguay)
All languages are now extinct.
Campbell (2012) classifies Mochica and Cañari–Puruhá each as separate language families.
Mochica was one of the major languages of pre-Columbian South America. It was documented by Fernando de la Carrera and Middendorf in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries respectively. It became extinct around 1920, although some people remembered a few words into the late 20th century. Most scholars consider Mochica a language isolate.
Cañari and Puruhá are documented with only a few words. These two languages are usually connected with Mochica. However, as their documentation level is so low, it may not be possible to confirm this association. According to Adelaar & Muysken (2004), Jijón y Caamaño's evidence of their relationship is only a single word: Mochica nech "river", Cañari necha; based on similarities with neighboring languages, he finds a Barbacoan connection more likely.
Quingnam, considered the same language as the lengua pescadora, was sometimes erroneously taken to be a dialect of Mochica, but it is effectively unattested, excepting a list of numerals discovered in 2010 thought likely to be of Quingnam or Pescadora as expected. These numerals are not, however, Mochica.
Mason (1950) Yunca-Puruhán (Chimuan) internal classification by Mason (1950):
Yunca–Puruhán Yuncan North group (Puruhá-Cañari) Puruhá Canyari (Cañari) Manabila (Mantenya) South group (Yunca) Yunga Morropé Eten (?) Chimu Mochica (Chincha) Chanco Atalán Wancavilca (Huancavilca) Mania Tumbez Puna Carake: Apichiki, Cancebi
Mason (1950) added Atalán to the family.
Tovar (1961) Tovar (1961),Tovar, Antonio (1961). Catálogo de las lenguas de América del Sur, pp. 162-165. Buenos Aires. partly based on Schmidt (1926),Schmidt, Wilhelm (1926). Die Sprachfamilien und Sprachenkreise der Erde, p. 214. Heidelberg. adds Tallán (Sechura–Catacao) to Chimuan (which he calls Yunga-Puruhá). Tovar's (1961) classification below is cited from Stark (1972).
Yunga–Puruhá Northern (Puruha-Cañari) Puruhá Cañari Central (Tallán) Sec Sechura Colán Catacaos Southern Yunga
Proposed external relationships
Stark (1972) proposed a Maya–Yunga–Chipayan macrofamily linking Mayan with Uru–Chipaya and Yunga (Mochica).
See also Mochica language Sechura–Catacao languages
References
Further reading Adelaar, Willem F. H.; & Muysken, Pieter C. (2004). The languages of the Andes. Cambridge language surveys. Cambridge University Press. Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. . Kaufman, Terrence. (1994). The native languages of South America. In C. Mosley & R. E. Asher (Eds.), Atlas of the world's languages (pp. 46–76). London: Routledge.
External links PROEL: Familia Chimúan