Mataco-Guaicurú languages

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Cartel in Mataco language in Coronel Juan Solá, province of Salta, Argentina.

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)
1.600 (2006)

[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:

Mataco

Macá

Nivacle

Chorote

Mataco

Guaicurú

Abipón

Toba

Mocoví

Pilagá

Caduveo

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:

GLOSAWaikurúMataguayo
KaduweuTobaAbipónMocovíWichí
1.a person
singular
èHayemaymaymolam
2.a person
singular
akámeÅamakamiakamiam
3.a person
singular
iddoatte-Mari(m)
añi (f.)
ini (m.)
ani (f.)
1.a person
plural
Okay.qomiakamOkomolamel
2.a person
plural
Okamiqamiakamiiakamiamel
3.a person
plural
iddá-Marihiniha (m.)
añija (f.)
inisó (m.)
anisó (f.)
lamel

Lexical comparison

The numerals in different Mataco-Guaicurú languages are:

GLOSAMataguayo Guaicurú
Chulupi
(nivaclé)
ChoroteMacaWichí
Vejoz
KadiwéuMocovíPilagáQom
(toba)
Abipón
'1'Huéšlai'fwjenliaweθweyajlaon.(oono)ki(ono)-lek(ono)-lek /
nathedac
- Attagirl.
'2'No.ti'mewa''huktakuas-wataale(doos)olkai army(two)-ol-qa(two)-ol-qa/
cacayni
-aka
'3'pú-šanana'xapewa-'čat-čo-weθtakuya-towataad urgei(three)olkai army(three)-ol-qa/
Cacaynilia
iñoaka
iekaiñi
'4'it-čat-cučix'ñuliiiig-wat-kuθno-kue-poyekGoatolo(kwatr)olkai covenantnalotapegatnaatapici
'5'huéšla-noétjyen-sikio-noaweθ-ta''haiNigotino
oba sacrificeadi
(sink)olkai armynigga
Cacainilia
hanamhegen
'6'iyen-e-
tamni
dibatiogi
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-ya
lafijlippleasenigotini
・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.oGLOSAPROTO-
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’*-

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