Chibchen languages

Monument to the Tairona village in Santa Marta

The Chibchense languages —also called Chibchanas or Chibchas— constitute a broad group of languages spoken by various Amerindian peoples, whose traditional territory It extends from northeastern Honduras, the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, most of Costa Rica and Panama, as well as northern and central Colombia and western Venezuela.

Situation

Twenty-six languages of this linguistic family have been classified, nine of which are extinct. It is, above all, languages whose territories coincided with the centers of greatest social and political activity of the Spanish conquerors.

Other languages are on the brink of extinction. Such is the case of paya and guatuso, both with approximately 600 speakers, and rama, a language spoken in Nicaragua of which only 24 speakers remain.

Languages belonging to the Chibcha language family

Tairona possibly belongs to this group of languages

Texts, dictionaries and grammars remained from some extinct languages, such as that of the Muiscas, which also allow their study and comparison. The Chibcha cultural element is distinguished by its ceramics, its social organization and its traditions, although it does not necessarily coincide with the linguistic family.

Chibcha languages spoken today

N.o	Authonymous	Exonymous	Spoken country
1	pech	paya	Honduras
2	branch		Nicaragua
3	Malécu	guatuso	Costa Rica
4		piss	Costa Rica
5	bribri		Costa Rica Panama
6	Naso	Teribe	Panama
7	ngäbe	Guaimí	Costa Rica Panama
8	buglere	bocotá	Costa Rica Panama
9	guna		Panama Colombia
10	ika	Indian, Arhuaco	Colombia
11	wiwa	lady, guamaca, arsery	Colombia
12	kággaba	kogui	Colombia
13	u'wa	tunebo	Colombia
14	ette taara	Chimila	Colombia
15	barí	moth-bari	Colombia Venezuela

Classification of Chibcha languages

Cassani (1741) related Muisca and Tunebo as Chibcha languages. Müller (1882) proposed the relationship of these languages with Arhuaco, which was confirmed by Max Uhle (1888, 1890), who also verified a relationship with Guaimí and the Talamancan languages, postulating the existence of the Chibcha linguistic family. In his 1888 paper, presented at the VII International Congress of Americanists, Uhle managed to demonstrate that there was a relationship of kinship between the Talamancan languages (Bribri, Cabécar, Térraba, Boruca), the Guaimí languages (Move, Murire, Muoy), the Arhuaco languages (Cábaga, Guamaca, Bintucua) and the extinct Muisca language, languages spoken in parts of Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia.

Internal sorting

In recent years, the Costa Rican linguist Adolfo Constenla Umaña (1981, 1991, 1995) has created a detailed classification of the Chibcha languages. The most recent classification by this author (Constenla 2008) divides the family as follows:

I. Paya, 990 speakers (1993)

II. Nuclear Chibchense

IIA. Gothic languages

• Rama, 24 (1989)
• Guatuso, 750 (2000)
• Smell (probable affiliation)

IIB. Isthmic languages

B1. Western Islamic

a. Vincentian languages

• Cabécar, 8840 (2000)
• Bribri, 11 000 (2000)

b. Boruca, 5 (1986)

c. Naso (teribe or terraba), 3005 (1991-1996)

B2. Foreign languages

• Dorasque
• Chánguena

B3. Eastern

a. Guaypic languages

• Movere (guay), 133 090 (1990-2000); 150 000 (2008)
• Buglere (bocotá), 2500 (1986)

b. Cuna

• Paya-pucuro, 1200 (1990-1991)
• Chuana, 57 100 (2000)

IIC. Magdalenic languages

C1. Southern Magdalene

a. Chibcha languages

• Muisca
• Duit

b. Tunebo (U'wa)

• West, 700 (1998)
• Central, 2500 (2000)
• Black Barrier, 300 (1981)
• Angostures, 50 (2009)

c. Bari, 5390 (2001)

C2. Northern Magdalene

a. Arhuácic languages

a1. Cogui, 11 000 (2007)

a2. Eastern-Mediterranean Arhuaceae Languages

I. Eastern Arhuácic Languages

• Damana (wiwa or Malay), 1920 (2001); 6600 (2010)
• Atanques (kankui or kankuamo)†

ii. Ica, 14 800 (2001)

b. Chimila, 2000 (2006)

C3. Without qualifying

• Antioqueño or nutabe†

Relations with other families

Scheme of the temporary separation of the Lenmuzi Microfil

Joseph Greenberg (1987), following other linguists who in the past included a greater number of languages in the Chibcha family, has proposed the hypothesis of a Chibchana-Paezana (or Macro-Chibcha) macrofamily, which would include, along with the Chibcha languages proper, the Páez language, the Barbecuan languages and the Misumalpa languages. This hypothesis, although it is still debated among linguists, has not yet been satisfactorily tested.

Adolfo Constenla (2005), using the comparative method, was able to prove that there is a genealogical relationship between the Chibcha family and the Lenca and Misumalpa languages. In a previous work (Constenla 2002), he had already proven the relationship between these last two groups of languages. The common ancestor of these languages has been named by Constenla microphyle lenmichí. This must have been spoken around 8000 B.C. C. somewhere in the Central American Isthmus.

Linguistic description

Phonology

Constenla (2008) reconstructs a phonological system for the protochibcha formed by the following vowel system:

Constenla (2008) reconstructs the following group of consonants:

In addition to the above segmental phonemes, the following suprasegmental features are reconstructed:

• Distinctive vocálica (*~)
• Three tones: low (*¹), half (*²and tall (*³)
• Acento: (*')

In his most recent reconstruction, M. Pache (2018) considers that the Constenla phonemes /*b/, /*d/ and /*g/ should be interpreted as prenasalized [ᵐb], [ⁿd] and [ᵑg].

Grammar

Lexical comparison

The following table shows the numerals from 1 to 10 and the proposed reconstructions for the main groups:

The term *sAkẽ́ '5' also means 'foot'.

The following table includes some cognates between Chibcha languages:

(accent indicates high tone)