Panoan (also Pánoan, Panoano, Panoana, Páno) is a family of languages spoken in western Brazil, eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia. It is a branch of a larger Pano–Tacanan family.
Genetic relations The Panoan family is generally believed to be related to the Tacanan family, forming with it Pano-Tacanan, though this has not yet been established (Loos 1999).
Language contact Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Kechua, Mapudungun, Moseten-Tsimane, Tukano, Uru-Chipaya, Harakmbet, Arawak, Kandoshi, and Pukina language families due to contact.
Languages
There are some 18 extant and 14 extinct Panoan languages. In the list of Panoan languages below adapted from Fleck (2013), () means extinct, and (*) obsolescent (no longer spoken daily). Dialects are listed in parentheses.
Fleck (2013)
Panoan Mayoruna Tabatinga Mayoruna [most divergent] Mayo Matses Matses (Peruvian Matses, Brazilian Matses, Paud Usunkid) Kulino (of Curuça)* (Kapishtana*, Mawi*, Chema*) Demushbo Korubo (Korubo, Chankueshbo*) Matis Matis Jandiatuba Mayoruna Amazon Mayoruna (two dialects) Mainline Panoan Kasharari [most divergent] Kashibo (Kashibo, Rubo/Isunbo, Kakataibo, Nokaman) Nawa branch (from least to most divergent) Bolivian Chokobo/Pakawara (Chokobo, Pakawara) Karipuna [possibly a dialect of Chokobo-Pakawara] ? Chiriba Madre de Dios Atsawaka-Yamiaka (Atsawaka, Yamiaka) Arazaire Blanco River Remo Tarauacá Kashinawa Marubo Marubo [of the Javari Basin] Katukina (or Waninawa: Katukina of Olinda, Katukina of Sete Estrelas, Kanamari) Olivença Kulina Poyanawa* Poyanawa Iskonawa* Nukini ?Môa Nawa* [tentative due to lack of data] Jaquirana Remo Chama Shipibo (Shipibo-Konibo, Tapiche Kapanawa*) Pano* (Pano , Shetebo*, Piskino*) Sensi Headwaters Ibuaçu Kashinawa (Brazilian Kashinawa, Peruvian Kashinawa, Juruá Kapanawa, Parannawa) Yaminawa (Brazilian Yaminawa dialects, Peruvian Yaminawa, Chaninawa, Chitonawa, Mastanawa, Parkenawa (= Yora), Shanenawa, Sharanawa/Marinawa, Shawannawa (= Arara), Yawanawa, Yaminawa-arara*, Nehanawa) Amawaka (Peruvian Amawaka, Nishinawa, Yumanawa) Môa Remo (resembles Amawaka) Tuchinawa (resembles Yaminawa dialects)
Boundaries between the Poyanawa, Chama, and Headwaters groups are somewhat blurred. Karipuna and Môa River Nawa may not be distinct languages, and Chiriba may not be Panoan at all.
Hundreds of other Panoan "languages" have been reported in the literature. These are names of groups that may have been ethnically Panoan, but whose language is unattested. They sometimes are assumed to be Panoan on no other evidence than that the name ends in -nawa or -bo. A few, such as Maya (Pisabo), are unattested but reported to be mutually intelligible with a known Panoan language (in this case Matsés). The people speaking one of these supposed languages, (Kuntanawa), was rediscovered in 1987, reported bilingual in their language and Portuguese. However, no linguistic information is available, and it is not known if they speak a distinct language.
Amarante Ribeiro (2005) Classification of the Panoan languages according to Amarante Ribeiro (2005):Amarante Ribeiro, Lincoln Almir (2005). Uma proposta de classificação interna das línguas da família Pano. Revista Investigações, v. 19, n. 2, p. 157-182.
Panoan Group I Amawaka Group II Subgroup II-1 Kashibo Nokaman Subgroup II-2 Shipibo Kapanawa Panobo Group III Subgroup III-1 Iskonawa Kaxinawa Subgroup III-2 Subgroup III-2-1 Nukini Remo Subgroup III-2-2 Subgroup III-2-2-1 Kanamari Katukina Marubo Subgroup III-2-2-2 Mastanawa Tuxinawa Yoranawa Sharanawa Shanenawa Arara Yawanawa Xitonawa Yaminawa Subgroup III-2-3 Kaxarari Poyanawa Group IV Subgroup IV-1 Kapishto Matsés Kulina Matis Subgroup IV-2 Atsawaka Arazaire Yamiaka Subgroup IV-3 Karipuna Chacobo Pakawara
Oliveira (2014) Internal classification by Oliveira (2014: 123):Oliveira, Sanderson Castro Soares de (2014). Contribuições para a reconstrução do Protopáno. Doctoral dissertation. Brasília: Universidade de Brasília.
Panoan Group 1: Kashíbo Group 2 Shípibo-Kónibo, Kapanáwa Marúbo (?) Group 3: Chákobo, Kaxararí (?) Group 4: Yamináwa, Chanináwa, Sharanáwa Group 5: Shanenáwa, Katukína Group 6: Poyanáwa (?), Amawáka Group 7 Kaxinawá, Marináwa Yawanawá Group 8: Mayorúna, Matís, Korúbo
Jolkesky (2016) Internal classification by Jolkesky (2016):Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho De Valhery. 2016. Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Brasília.
( = extinct)
Pano Pano, Northern Kulina (Pano) Korubo Matis Matses Pisabo Pano, Nuclear Kasharari Pano, Western Kashibo, Kakataibo Nokaman Pano, Central Purus Amawaka Kashinawa Yaminawa-Iskonawa-Marinawa: Iskonawa, Marinawa, Yaminawa; Yawanawa Jurua Kanamari (Pano) Katukina (Pano) Marubo Nukini-Remo Nukini Remo Poyanawa Atsawaka Arazaeri Atsawaka Yamiaka Chakobo Chakobo Karipuna (Pano) Pakawara Shipibo-Kapanawa Kapanawa Shipibo-Wariapano: Sensi ; Wariapano; Shipibo
Homonyms Much of the confusion surrounding Panoan languages is the number of homonyms among different languages. The principal ambiguous names are as follows:
+Panoan languages with the same name Name Location or other name Language Kapanawa on the Tapiche dialect of Shipibo-Konibo on the Juruá dialect of Ibuaçu Kashinawa Kashinawa on the Ibuaçu Headwaters group on the Tarauacá Mainline branch Kulina on the Curuçá Mayoruna branch of São Paulo de Olivençá Mainline branch Marubo in the Javari Basin Mainline branch of Maucallacta [no data] Mayoruna branch Remo on the Blanco Nawa group on the Môa Headwaters group on the Jaquirana Poyanawa group Southern Remo [no data] Chama group Sinabo of the Mamoré Bolivian group of the Ucayali Basin Chama group Katukina Waninawa Marubo group of Feijo' (Shanenawa) dialect of Yaminawa Nawa on the Môa [little data] Poyanawa group Parkenawa dialect of Yaminawa Maroyuna (various) three languages in list above Mates Mates Barbudo [no data] Chama group Demushbo Matses group Chema dialect of Curuçá Kulina
Neighboring languages of other families may also share the names of Panoan language. The table below ignores other homonyms further afield:
+Non-Panoan languages with the same names as Panoan languages Family LanguageArawakan Kanamari, Kasharari, Kunibo, Mayoruna, PakaguaraTakanan Chama, Arasa, Atsahuaca, YamiakaKatukinan Katukina, KanamariTupian Karipuna, KatukinarúArawan Kulina, ArawáHarakmbut Arasairi
Grammatical features
Body-part prefixation
Exceptional to Panoan languages' predominantly suffixal morphology are sets of approximately 30 morphemes primarily referring to parts or features of prototypical human and animal bodies (and, by analogical extension, of botanicals, manufactures, landscapes, and abstract space) which have been found to occur in almost all attested languages of the family (Fleck 2006: 59; Ferreira 2007, 2008; Amarante Ribeiro and Cândido 2008; Zariquiey and Fleck 2012: 385–386).
That these monosyllabic forms are productively affixed to the front of verbal, nominal, or adjectival roots has led many Panoanists to describe them as prefixes (e.g. Prost 1967 and Zingg 1998 [for Chakobo]; Faust 1973, Loriot et al. 1993, and Valenzuela 2003 [for Shipibo-Konibo]; Hyde 1980 [for Amawaka]; Eakin 1991[for Yaminawa]), while the forms' resemblance and loose semantic correspondence to unbound, polysyllabic 'body-part terms' has led others to describe them as incorporated nouns (e.g. Loos 1999). More recent and detailed analyses of this feature in Matses (Fleck 2006) and Kashibo-Kakataibo (Zariquiey and Fleck 2012) have demonstrated that most body-part prefixes in these languages are not readily analyzable as synchronic allomorphs of the nouns they resemble.
Many Panoan body-part prefixes semantically encompass a wide range of extended meaning. In Matses, for example, the prefix an- corresponds to the nouns ana 'mouth, tongue, palm (of hand), sole (of foot), (arm)pit'; anmaëşh 'gill slits (of fish)'; and anşhantuk 'swampy depression in the ground'; but can itself be glossed also as 'cavity, concave surface, interior, underside'; and 'center (of path of stream)' (Fleck 2006: 64). In the examples below, the prefix an- with the verb root kiad 'learn' expresses the learning of a specifically 'oral activity' while the prefix më- 'hand, mortar, forearm, wrist, projecting carpal bones, elbow, finger, knuckles, fingernail, branch' expresses the learning of a specifically 'manual' one:
The following example illustrates how an- can express locative information in non-corporeal, topographical space:
While body-part prefixes in Kashibo-Kakataibo, as in Matses, are highly productive with verbs, they are used regularly with only a modest array of adjectives and nouns (Fleck 2006: 72; Zariquiey and Fleck 2012: 394–5). Zariquiey and Fleck (2012: 394) note that the Kashibo-Kakataibo "words for 'skin', 'hair', and 'flesh'" are regularly prefixed:
Due to the paucity of detailed studies of Panoan body-part prefixes, explanations of their grammaticalization remain largely speculative. Fleck has hypothesized that "Panoan (verb) prefixation evolved from past noun incorporation that co-existed with noun-noun and noun-adjective compounding that involved synchronic reduction of body-part roots" (2006: 92). In light of their analysis of Kashibo-Kakataibo prefixation, Zariquiey and Fleck present two diachronic scenarios to orient future comparative work: "(1) prefixation evolved from productive noun incorporation (prefixes have come from longer body-part nouns); or (2) Proto-Panoan body-part terms were monosyllabic forms that became bound, and most of the current body-part terms were later built up from these" (2012: 408).
Proto-language
Below are Proto-Panoan reconstructions by de Oliveira (2014).Oliveira, S. C. Soares de (2014). Contribuições para a Reconstrução do Protopáno. PhD dissertation, Universidade de Brasília. Accessed from DiACL, 9 February 2020. For the full list of original Portuguese glosses, see the corresponding Portuguese article.