Esmeralda language

Esmeralda, or Esmeraldeño (also called Takame or Atacame), is an extinct language isolate formerly spoken in the coastal region of Ecuador, specifically in the western part of Esmeraldas Province. The only existing data for Atacame was collected by J.M. Pallares in 1877.

Esmeralda
Atacame
Takame
Native toEcuador
Extinctsecond half of the 19th century
Esmeralda–Yaruro ?
  • Esmeralda
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
Glottologatac1235

Classification

It has been proposed that the language is connected to the still-spoken Yaruro language of Venezuela. It also has some lexical similarities with the extinct Yurumanguí language,[1] as well with the southern Barbacoan language Tsafiki (especially plant and animal names).[1][2]:457–458

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.[3]

glossEsmeralda
handdi
foottaha
manilóm
wateruivi
starmuʔxabla
earthdula
dogkine
jaguarmutokine
snakepiama
housekiama
boatdiala

Further reading
  • Seler, Eduard (1902). "Die Sprache der Indianer von Esmeraldas" [The language of the Indians of Esmeraldas]. Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur Amerikanischen Sprach- und Alterthumskunde [Collected treatises on American linguistics and archaeology] (in German). Vol. 1. Berlin: A. Asher & Company. pp. 49–64 – via Google Books.

References
  1. Adelaar, William F. H.; Muysken, Pieter C. (2004). The languages of the Andes. Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge University Press. pp. 156–161. ISBN 9781139451123.
  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. Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.