Tacanan languages

Takanan
Takanan
Tacanan
Geographic; distribution	Bolivia
Linguistic classification	Pano–Tacanan? Takanan;
Subdivisions	Ese Ejja; Araona–Tacana;
Language codes
Glottolog	taca1255
	Takanan languages (light green) and Panoan languages (dark green). Spots indicate documented locations.

Tacanan is a family of languages spoken in Bolivia, with Ese’ejja also spoken in Peru. It may be related to the Panoan languages. Many of the languages are endangered.

Family division

Tacanan
- Ese Ejja (a.k.a. Ese’eha, Tiatinagua, Chama, Huarayo, Guacanawa, Chuncho, Eseʼexa, Tatinawa, Ese exa)
- Araona–Tacana
  - Araona (a.k.a. Carina, Cavina)
  - Cavineña–Tacana
    - Cavineña (a.k.a. Kavinenya)
    - Tacana
      - Tacana (a.k.a. Tupamasa, Takana)
      - Reyesano (a.k.a. San Borjano, Maropa)
      - Toromona (†?)

Toromono may be extinct. Another extinct Tacanan language is Mabenaro; Arasa has been classified as Tacanan, but appears to have more in common with Panoan.

Loukotka (1968)

Below is a full list of Tacanan language varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties.^[1]

Tacana - language with many relationships with the Arawak and Pano languages, spoken on the Beni River, Tuichi River, and Tequeje River, territory of Colonia, Bolivia; now spoken by only a few families. Dialects are:
- Tumupasa / Maracáni - spoken on the Uchipiamona River in the same region.
- Isiama / Ydiama - spoken on the Unduma River and around Ydiama.

Araona - spoken on the Madre de Dios River and Manuripi River in Colonia, Bolivia
Capechene / Capaheni - unknown language spoken on the Xapuri River and Rosiano River, Acre territory, Brazil. (Unattested.)
Sapiboca - extinct language once spoken at the old mission of Reyes, Beni province, Bolivia.
Chirigua / Shiribá - extinct language once spoken at the old mission of Santa Buenaventura, Beni. (Unattested.)
Guarizo - extinct language once spoken at the old missions of Reyes and San Antonio de Isiama.
Maropa - spoken in the vicinity of Lake Rogoaguado, Beni, now probably extinct.
Guacanahua / Chama / Ese'ejja - spoken by a small tribe on the Madidi River and Undumo River, La Paz province, Bolivia.
Mabenaro - spoken on the Manuripi River.
Caviña / Cavineña - once spoken on the Cavinas River, Madidi River, and Beni River, now probably extinct.
Toromona - once spoken between the Madidi River, Beni River, and Madre de Dios River, now perhaps extinct.
Arasa - language spoken by the greater part of the Arazaire tribe (of Pano stock) on the Marcopata River and Arasa River.
Tiatinagua / Mohino / Chuncho / Huarayo / Baguaja / Tambopata-Guarayo / Echoja - spoken by a tribe on the Peru-Bolivia border, on the Tambopata River.

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Kayuvava, Tupi, and Arawak language families due to contact.^[2]

Vocabulary

Sample vocabulary of four Tacanan languages, along with Proto-Panoan for comparison, from Nikulin (2019):^[3]

gloss	Ese Ejja	Araona	Cavineña	Tacana	Proto-Panoan
liver	e-kakʷa	tákʷa	e-takʷa	e-takʷa	*takʷa
tongue	ej-ana	e-ána	j-ana	j-ana	*hana
blood		ami	ami	ami	*himi
you (sg.)	mi-a	mi	mi-	mi	*mi
hand	e-me	e-me	e-me-tuku	e-me	*mɨ-
earth	meʃi	mezizo	metʃi ‘soil’	med’i	*mai
meat	e-jami	e-ami	e-rami	j-ami ‘muscle’	*rami
stone		mahana	makana		*maka
bone	e-sá	e-tsoa	e-tsau	e-tsau	*ʂao
(finger)nail	e-me-kiʃe	Ø-mé-tezi		e-me-tid’i	*mɨ̃-tsis
fat	e-sei	e-tsei	e-tseri	e-tsei	*ʂɨ[n]i
tooth	e-sé	e-tse	e-tse	e-tse	*ʂɨta

Verbal morphology

Associated motion

Tacanan languages, in particular Cavineña and Ese Ejja, have among the richest associated motion systems in the world's languages.^[4]

Notes

^ Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
^ Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
^ Nikulin, Andrey V. The classification of the languages of the South American Lowlands: State-of-the-art and challenges / Классификация языков востока Южной Америки. Illič-Svityč (Nostratic) Seminar / Ностратический семинар, October 17, 2019.
^ Guillaume, Antoine. 2016. Associated motion in South America: Typological and areal perspectives. Linguistic Typology 20(1). 81–177

References

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. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
Kaufman, Terrence. (1990). Language history in South America: What we know and how to know more. In D. L. Payne (Ed.), Amazonian linguistics: Studies in lowland South American languages (pp. 13–67). Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-70414-3.
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 Tacanana
Tacana language dictionary online from IDS (select simple or advanced browsing)

[Loukotka-1] Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.

[Jolkesky-2016-2] Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.

[3] Nikulin, Andrey V. The classification of the languages of the South American Lowlands: State-of-the-art and challenges / Классификация языков востока Южной Америки. Illič-Svityč (Nostratic) Seminar / Ностратический семинар, October 17, 2019.

[4] Guillaume, Antoine. 2016. Associated motion in South America: Typological and areal perspectives. Linguistic Typology 20(1). 81–177

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