Kankuamo language
| Kankuamo | |
|---|---|
| Cancuamo | |
| Native to | Colombia |
| Ethnicity | Kankuamo, Atanque |
| Extinct | after 1932 |
Chibchan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | kank1244 |
Kankuamo, also known as Kakatukua, Kampanake,[1] Atanques or Atanque, is an extinct Chibchan language of Colombia,[2] once spoken in the area of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
It was spoken on the southeastern slope of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, in the communities of the Atánquez district. Although the language of the Kankuamo is nearly extinct and the Kankuamo communicate mainly in Spanish, tradition holds that speakers of the native language can still be found in the páramos, especially among some elders and mamos (spiritual leaders).
With the collaboration of members of the Kankuamo community, as well as other indigenous people of the Sierra with knowledge of this language, and with the support of experts, written materials are being developed to promote its dissemination among children and young people.[3]
Phonology
[edit]Vowels
[edit]| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open | a |
Consonants
[edit]| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | Voiceless | t | tʃ | k | ||
| Voiced | b | d | dʒ ⟨J⟩ | g | ||
| Fricative | Voiceless | s | ʃ | x | h | |
| Voiced | ʒ | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | |||
| Continuant | w | j | ||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Trill | r / r | |||||
Vocabulary
[edit]There is very little information about the language, in particular with regard to grammar. Before its speakers switched to Spanish, Celedón (1892) managed to compile a brief dictionary. The following table shows a sample of the lexicon.[4][1]
| gloss | Celedón | Wavrin |
|---|---|---|
| one | ijkua | hiskwa |
| two | moga | moga |
| three | ména | me̱wa |
| head | chakúku | c̈akna |
| eye | úma | hu̱mE |
| nose | michiuña | muc̈iñi |
| ear | kukkuá | kwükwü |
| tooth | köhka | khükhü |
| man | ferúa | teru̱a |
| woman | amia | akmi̱a |
| water | dita | ditáʼ |
| fuego | guié | ghié |
| earth | nebinyàku | kwi |
| fish | uáka | gẅa̱ku |
| tree | kandina | Xä |
| sun | koköbúnyo | bonju |
| moon | sakaméru | sakné̱ru |
Despite being so poorly attested, Kankuamo clearly belongs to the Arwako subgroup of Chibcha. In particular, it appears to be very close to Wiwa in terms of phonetic innovations.[5]
Toponyms
[edit]Traces of Kankuamo are also preserved in toponyms recorded in the region of Sierra Nevada.[6] Suffixes like -ka "place, site" (e.g. in Susungá-ka, Chingá-ka, Kankuá-ka) or -kua "bower" (e.g. in Birintu-kua, Risátu-kua, Kamíntu-kua) are diagnostic of a Kankuamo source.[7]
Notes
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 Wavrin, Robert de; Trillos Amaya, María (1998), "Lengua Kankuamo", Lenguas de la Orinoquía y del Norte de Colombia, Documentos sobre lenguas aborígenes de Colombia del archivo de Paul Rivet, vol. 2, Bogotá: Ediciones Uniandes-CCELA-Colciencias, pp. 437–456
- ↑ Shafer, Robert (1962). "Aruakan (Not Arawakan)". Anthropological Linguistics. 4 (4): 31–40. ISSN 0003-5483. JSTOR 30022363.
- ↑ Trillos Amaya, María (1998). "Observaciones al documento de Robert de Wavrin sobre la lengua kankuamo o kampanake". Documentos sobre lenguas aborígenes de Colombia del archivo de Paul Rivet. Lenguas de la Orinoquía y del Norte de Colombia (in Spanish). Vol. 2. pp. 447–456.
- ↑ Celedón 1892.
- ↑ Jackson (1996, pp. 66–67).
- ↑ Salas (2020, pp. 162–164).
- ↑ Salas (2020, pp. 164–167).
References
[edit]- Celedón, Rafael (1892). "Vocabulario de la lengua Atanques" (PDF). Proceedings of the 8th. International Congress of Americanists of 1890 (in Spanish). Paris: Ernest Leroux: 591–599. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-03-03.
- Jackson, Robert T. (1996). "Fonología comparativa de los idiomas chibchas de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta". Boletín Museo del Oro (in Spanish) (38–39): 57–69.
- Leal Arias, Samuel (2019). Diccionario Español Kankuamo. Valledupar: Universidad Popular del Cesar.
- Salas, Andrés Alfonso Pastrana (2020). "Una configuración toponímica del resguardo indígena kankuamo". Lingüística y Literatura (in Spanish). 41 (77): 146–171. doi:10.17533/udea.lyl.n77a07. ISSN 0120-5587.
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