The moribund or extinct Híbito–Cholón or Cholónan languages form a proposed and widely accepted language family that links two languages of Peru, Hibito and Cholón. This family was believed have gone extinct in the 1990s, but in 2021 a semispeaker was identified; she is Martha Pérez Valderrama, and she is currently the only known speaker of this language family (specifically from the Cholón). They may also be related to the extinct Culle and Chirino languages, and perhaps to the language of the Chachapoya, but the data for all of these languages is poor. This hypothetical group of languages has been termed the Cholonoid languages.
Language contact Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Kechua, Leko, Mapudungun, Mochika, Kandoshi, Muniche, and Barbakoa language families due to contact.
Lexicon Several basic Hibito and Cholon words appear to be related, though the data on both languages is poor. The following examples are given in the ad hoc orthography of the three sources we have on these languages:
{|class="wikitable" |- ! !! tree !! water !! daughter !! son |- ! Cholón | mech / meš | cot / quõt / köta | ñu / -ñu | pul / -pul |- ! Hibito | mixs / mitš | cachi / otšj | ñoo | pool
Loukotka, Čestmír. 1949. Sur Quelques Langues Inconnues de l'Amerique du Sud. Lingua Posnaniensis I: 53-82.Mata, Fr. Pedro de la. 1748. Arte de la lengua Cholona. Trujillo. Manuscript held at the British Museum in London. (Republished in Inca (1923), vol. 1, pp. 690-750. Lima.)Tessmann, Günter. 1930. Die Indianer Nordost-Perus: grundlegende Forschungen für eine systematische Kulturkunde. Hamburg: Friederichsen, de Gruyter.
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! rowspan="2" | English gloss (translated) !! colspan="2" | Hibito !! rowspan="2" | Cholon !! rowspan="2" | comparisons |- !Martínez Compañón !Tessmann |- | animal || | || (Sp.) || |- | tree || | || mees-ñgup || |- | drink || | || nig || |- | sky || | || senta || |- | heart || | || aluñač || |- | God || | || (Sp.) || |- | pain || | || ysiam || |- | water || ||| kot || Tessmann: oč, köta |- | stars || | || ke-nak || |- | woman || |, || yla || Tessmann: udú, hilá |- | fire || |, || vet || Tessmann: olmó, utmo |- | daughter || | || añu || |- | son || | || apul || |- | flower || | || ñuñap || |- | river || | || kot-ysokot || |- | brother || | || azot || Katakao: aszat 'man' |- | fruit | | || keniya || |- | joy || | || augilubaktam || |- | grass || | || pullo || |- | man || |, || num || Tessmann: núm, lúno |- | moon || ||| peel || Tessmann: winžö, pel |- | eat || | || amok || |- | sea || | || sokotlol || |- | mother || | || appan || |- | death || | || mikol || |- | die || | || ñgoli-čo || |- | bird || | || zuksill || |- | waves || | || ypixsimam || |- | father || | || appa || |- | cry || | || yo-yam || |- | rain || | || llisiak || |- | fish || | || asua || |- | branch || | || pučup || |- | laugh || | || časam || |- | sister || | || akiñiu || |- | sun || |, || musak || Tessmann: nim, mušápo |- | earth || | || lluspey || |- | trunk || | || sangoč || |- | wind || | || mam || |- | meat || | || čep ||
Rivet (1949) +Hibito and Cholon wordsFrench glossEnglish translationHibitoCholonJ'achèteI buya-msanJ'ai achèteI boughta-mziAiguilleNeedlekaxáAimerto lovea-gol'an
References
Alain Fabre, 2005, Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: CHOLÓN