Mataco-Guaicurú languages
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The Mataco-Guaicurú language family is a set of 12 indigenous languages of America spoken in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay. It comprises two subfamilies, with a total of approximately 100,000 speakers distributed in the Bermejo, Pilcomayo and Paraguay river basins. One language (Abipón) is extinct and others are threatened.
Classification
The relationship between both groups was intuited by Samuel Alejandro Lafone Quevedo in 1896, although the first comparative work with some depth is very recent. José Pedro Viegas Barros (in 1993-1994) compared both families and proposed an outline reconstruction of the phonological system, a few dozen grammatical similarities and about seventy cognates. This study includes data not only on the languages currently spoken but also on Abipón, Payaguá and Guachí (the last two have very little documentation, and their inclusion in the family should be considered more uncertain).
Family languages
| Subfamily | Language | Dialects | Geographical coverage | n.o Estimated Speakers | ISO/DIS 639-3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guaicurú (Guaykurú) | Abipón | Argentina | Extinguish | [axb] | |
| Caduveo (kaduweu) | 3 villages in Serra da Bodoquena, Mato Grosso del Sur (Brazil) | 1200-1800 (1995)
~1590 (1998)
| [kbc] | ||
| Mocoví (moqoit la’qaatqa) | Province of Chaco Formosa and north of Santa Fe, (Argentina) | ~4530 (2000) 3000-5000 (2008) 15.900 (2020) | [moc] | ||
| Pilagá (pit'laxá) | Toba-pilagá (toba west, black hat), Chaco pilagá (toba sur) | Provinces of Formosa and Chaco (Argentina) | ~4000 (2004) 2000-5000 (2008) 4.765 (2020) | [plg] | |
| Toba (qomlaqtaq) | Southeast Toba, North Toba. | Provinces of Chaco and Formosa (Argentina), Paraguay, Bolivia | ~15 781 (1991) ~21 410 (2000) 20 000 (2008) 90.000 (2020) | [tob] | |
| Mataco (mataguayo) | Nivaclé (chulupí-ašlušlay) | Nivaclé of the jungle and nivaclé of the river | Departments of President Hayes and Boquerón (Paraguay) and northeast of Formosa (Argentina) | 10 200 -13 900 (1991) 18 000 (2008) | [cag] |
| Chorote iyo'wujwa | Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia | 2000 (1991) (total of both tongues chorotes) ~2030 (2007). Possibly extinct in Bolivia (8 in 1982). | [crq] | ||
| Chorote iyojwa'ja | Northeast of the province of Formosa (Argentina). | ~800 (1982) | [crt] | ||
| Maká | Paraguay and northeast of the province of Formosa (Argentina). | ~1500 (2000) 1050 (2007) | [mca] | ||
| Wichí lhamtés nocten | Centro-norte del departamento de Tarija (Bolivia), Norte de Salta (Argentina). | ~2081 (1994) 2000 (2008) 51,000 (2020) | [mtp] | ||
| Wichí lhamtés güisnay | Pilcomayo River Area (Argentina) | ~15 000 (1999) ~15 000(2008) | [mzh] | ||
| Wichí lhamtés vejoz | Blend vejoz Red teuco | Provinces of Chaco, Formosa, Salta, (Argentina) and Bolivia | ~25 000 (1991) ~28 000 (2008) (~3000 teuco) | [wlv] |
Internal classification
Based on vocabulary comparison, the ASJP automatic comparison project, which is based on the Levenshtein distance between words in a list of cognates, automatically classifies languages into a binary tree. For the Mataco-Guaicurú languages, the tree that provided (which does not necessarily correspond in all details to the correct phylogenetic tree) is as follows:
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Viegas Barros (1993-94) considers that the payaguá and the guachí would be two parallel branches, the Mataguaya branch and the Guaicurú branch.
Relationship with other languages
There is no convincing demonstration that the Mataco-Guaicurú languages are related to other languages of America. Viegas Barros has found a series of similarities between the pronominal system of these languages and that of the macro-yê languages.
Previously Morris Swadesh had conjectured a macro-Guaicurú group that also included the Mascoyan languages and the Charrúa languages, and Greenberg had speculated the possible existence of a relationship with the Pano-Tacanan languages, although neither of these two proposals has general acceptance.
Linguistic description
Phonology
Grammar
The following table compares the personal pronouns of the Matacana and Guaicurú languages:
| GLOSA | Waikurú | Mataguayo | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaduweu | Toba | Abipón | Mocoví | Wichí | |
| 1.a person singular | è | Hayem | aym | aym | olam |
| 2.a person singular | akáme | Åam | akami | akami | am |
| 3.a person singular | iddoatte | -Mari | (m) añi (f.) | ini (m.) ani (f.) | ♪ |
| 1.a person plural | Okay. | qomi | akam | Okom | olamel |
| 2.a person plural | Okami | qami | akamii | akami | amel |
| 3.a person plural | iddá | -Mari | hiniha (m.) añija (f.) | inisó (m.) anisó (f.) | lamel |
Lexical comparison
The numerals in different Mataco-Guaicurú languages are:
GLOSA Mataguayo Guaicurú Chulupi
(nivaclé)Chorote Maca Wichí
VejozKadiwéu Mocoví Pilagá Qom
(toba)Abipón '1' Huéšla i'fwjenli aweθ weyajla on. (oono)ki (ono)-lek (ono)-lek /
nathedac- Attagirl. '2' No. ti'me wa''huk takuas -wataale (doos)olkai army (two)-ol-qa (two)-ol-qa/
cacayni-aka '3' pú-šana na'xape wa-'čat-čo-weθ takuya -towataad urgei (three)olkai army (three)-ol-qa/
Cacayniliaiñoaka
iekaiñi'4' it-čat-cuč ix'ñuliii ig-wat-kuθ no-kue-poyek Goatolo (kwatr)olkai covenant nalotapegat naatapici '5' huéšla-noétj yen-sikio-no aweθ-ta''hai Nigotino
oba sacrificeadi(sink)olkai army nigga
Cacainiliahanamhegen '6' iyen-e-
tamnidibatiogi
oba sacrificeadi(sais)olkai '7' 2+5 (sieet)olkai covenant '8' 3+5 (oito) (oot≤)olkai covenant '9' 4+5 (noobi) (nwew)olkai '10' tiwono-
Sikio-yalafij lipplease nigotini
・oba felti(dies)olkai army
The terms in parentheses are lexical loans from Spanish and Portuguese.
Proto-mataguayo
The proto-Mataguayan reconstructed by Viegas Barros (2002):
| N.o | GLOSA | PROTO- MATAGUAYO |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ‘Be drunk’ | *-hwum |
| 2 | ‘You drink’ | ♪hl- |
| 3 | ‘maize’ | *iphatha |
| 4 | ‘Tía’ | *-itho |
| 5 | ‘arco’ | *-lutshe |
| 6 | ‘hija’ | *-Ahse |
| 7 | ‘amar’ | *-hmi |
| 8 | ‘night’ | ♪hnahn |
| 9 | ‘black’ | *snaqaj |
| 10 | ‘Monte Cat’ | *slAqaj |
| 11 | ‘mosca’ | *k’ataq |
| 12 | ‘bee’ | *hnakotaq |
| 13 | ‘sky’ | ♪ hwatsuq ♪ |
| 14 | ‘chaman’ | *jewu [* coinjewu] |
| 15 | ‘Be warm’ | *kju [*kju coins] |
| 16 | ‘dirty’ | ♪hele [*xele] |
| 17 | ‘coatí’ | *him [*him] |
| 18 | ‘dirty’ | *xele |
| 19 | ‘plural of the subject’ | *-xe(ne) |
| 20 | ‘head’ | *-xetik |
| 21 | ‘murciélago’ | *(V)xej guests |
| 22 | ‘spring’ | *xinaw fast |
| 23 | ‘1a. p. inclusive’ | ♪ Xina... |
| 24 | ‘1a. p. pl. inclusive subject’ | *xite- |
| 25 | ‘To the side, around’ | *-xop |
| 26 | ‘Palo cruz’ | *xoxewuk |
| 27 | ‘luna’ | *xuwe coinla |
| 28 | ‘tusca’ | *xunxetek |
| 29 | ‘garza’ | *axa coin |
| 30 | ‘door’ | *łaxi |
| 31 | ‘be fat’ | *- |
| 32 | ‘cigüena’ | *p vibrajtsax |
| 33 | ‘piel’ | *- |
| 34 | ‘arco’ | *-lutsex |
| 35 | ‘3a. p. posesivo’, ‘wood’ | * |
| 36 | ‘Do’ | *-xwex |
| 37 | ‘A hole’ | *towex |
| 38 | ‘camino’ | ♪ |
| 39 | ‘olor’ | *(V)nix |
| 40 | ‘lavar’ | *tix |
| 41 | ‘left’ | *-xwejix |
| 42 | ‘comer’ | *-tux |
| 43 | ‘pasto’ | *xup’ |
| 44 | ‘Sufijo that indicates where the action takes place’ | *-xij |
| 45 | ‘true’ | *ix |
| 46 | ‘1a. p. subject’ | *χa- |
| 47 | ‘1a. p. subject’ | *χaj- |
| 48 | ‘1a. p. subject’ | *χan- |
| 49 | ‘chaman’ | *χajawu |
| 50 | ‘coatí’ | *χim |
| 51 | ‘Man’ | *χino coin |
| 52 | ‘arena’ | *χolo |
| 53 | ‘sombra’ | *χupel |
| 54 | ‘chajá’ | *ts clad |
| 55 | ‘fishing (generic); ‘sabalo’ | *saχets |
| 56 | ‘nutrition’ | *wiχel cup |
| 57 | ‘arena’ | * |
| 58 | ‘fire’ | * |
| 59 | ‘Rostle Bear’ | *kinełitsaχ |
| 60 | ‘The Anthill’ | *seulaχ |
| 61 | ‘sapo’ | *t vibratsinaχ |
| 62 | ‘sufijo nominal’ | *-taχ |
| 63 | ‘humo’ | *tutsaχ |
| 64 | ‘light’ | *xwetenaχ |
| 65 | ‘mulite’ | *xwoqotsaχ |
| 66 | ‘cavar’ | *-tił cup |
| 67 | ‘ñandú’ | *wam(xa)łχ |
| 68 | ‘voz’ | *- |