Charruan languages

The Charruan languages are a language family once spoken in Uruguay and the Argentine province of Entre Ríos. In 2005, a semi-speaker of the Chaná language, Blas Wilfredo Omar Jaime, was found in Entre Ríos Province, Argentina.

Internal coherence

Charruan may actually consist of two or three unrelated families according to Nikulin (2019). Nikulin notes that many of the following languages share very few basic vocabulary items with each other.

Chaná as spoken by Blas Wilfredo Omar Jaime
Chaná of Larrañaga (1923)
Charrúa of Vilardebó (1842)
Güenoa from a short 18th-century catechesis quoted by Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro

Languages

Four languages are considered to definitively belong to the Charruan language family, basically Chañá (Lanték), Nbeuá, Charrúa and Guenoa. Nbeuá is thought to be a dialect of Chaná. A fourth language, Balomar, is claimed to exist by Loukotka (1968), but there is no data on it.

Charruan languages Chaná (†) Chaná proper "Mbeguá", "Beguá", or "Chaná-Beguá" "Timbúes", "Chaná Timbúes", "Timbó", or "Chaná timbó" Charrúa † Güenoa (Minuan) † Balomar (unattested) †

A number of unattested languages are also presumed to belong to the Charruan family:

Bohane – spoken near Maldonado, or Salto, in Uruguay
Calchine – spoken in Santa Fe Province, Argentina, along the Salado River
Caracañá – spoken along the Caracañá River, Santa Fe
Chaná-Mbegua or Begua – spoken on the Paraná River between Crespo and Victoria
Colastiné – spoken in Santa Fe Province near Colastiné
Corondá – spoken in Coronda, Santa Fe Province
Guaiquiaré – spoken in Entre Ríos on the Arroyo Guaiquiraré
Mocoreta or Macurendá or Mocolete – spoken along the Mocoretá River in Entre Ríos Province
Pairindi – spoken in Entre Ríos from Corrientes to the Feliciano River
Timbu – spoken in Gaboto, Santa Fe Province
Yaro – spoken in Uruguay between the Río Negro and the San Salvador River

Genetic relations

Jorge Suárez includes Charruan with Guaicuruan in a hypothetical Waikuru-Charrúa stock. Morris Swadesh includes Charruan along with Guaicuruan, Matacoan, and Mascoyan within his Macro-Mapuche stock. Both proposals appear to be obsolete.

Vocabulary

The Charruan languages are poorly attested. However, sufficient vocabulary has been gathered for the languages to be compared:

English Charrua Chaná Güenoa me m' mi-tí hum you m' mutí /em/ baté m we rampti/ am-ptí rambuí eye i-hou ocál ear i-mau / i-man timó mouth ej hek / obá hand guar nam foot / toe atit eté water hué atá sun dioi dog lohán agó white huok one yú u-gil / ngui yut two sam usan / amá three detí / datit detit / heít detit know sepé seker good / nice bilú oblí / oblé brother/sister inchalá nchalá friend huamá uamá why? / how? retám retanle* who? ua-reté past (suf.) ndau / nden edam

Lexical comparison from Nikulin (2019):

gloss Chana (Jaime) Chana (Larranaga 1923) Charrúa Guenoa we ampti / am-, rampti rambui give ará da.jú sun dioi diói go nderé do bajiná 'to walk' thou empti em- / m- one gilí / güi gil: ugil 'único' yú ~ yu yut isa 'only one' who guareptí guárete sand lgorí han mouth uvá hek ej that huati / huat- white noá huóc good latár hear timotéc montéc come nderé na not reé =mén what r'eca 'what', r'epti retant 'how many?' two amá san sam ~ sán know seker, sekér see solá 'mirar' mountain to e woman adá ukái / kái 'female' I ytí / i- ~ y- all opá sleep utalá ando diabun 'vamos a dormir' foot vedé verá atit kill ña aú go nderé do bajiná 'to walk' stand reé utalá basquadé 'levantarse' mouth uvá hek ej hand nam guar moon aratá guidai water atá hué nose utí ibar eye ocál ijou ear timó imau head ta ~ ta ug vedé is hair moni itaj fire yogüín it dog agó samayoí two amá san sam ~ sán one gilí / güi gil: ugil 'único' yú ~ yu yut isa 'only one' person ëewuit edam who guareptí guárete die ña hallen name hapatam 'his name' we ampti / am-, rampti rambui what r'eca 'what', r'epti retant 'how many?' one gilí / güi gil: ugil 'único' yú ~ yu yut isa 'only one'