Culli language

Culli, also spelled Culle, Cullí, or Kulyi, also called Ilinga, is a poorly attested extinct language of the Andean highlands of northern Peru. It is the original language of the highlands of La Libertad Region, the south of the Cajamarca Region (Cajabamba), and the north of the Ancash region (Pallasca and Bolognesi). It is known through two word lists collected while the language was still spoken and through vocabulary loaned into the Spanish spoken in the region.

Flores Reyna (1996) reports that Culli was spoken by at least one family in the town of Tauca, Pallasca Province, Ancash region, until the middle of the 20th century. While it appears that Culli has been displaced in its whole range by Spanish, the possibility of speakers remaining in some remote village cannot be ruled out altogether.

Culli was the language spoken in the territory of at least three pre-Inca cultures or dominions: the kingdom of Konchuko (Conchucos), in the north of the Ancash region; the kingdom of Wamachuko (Huamachuco), in the highlands of La Libertad region; and at least in the southern part of the kingdom of Kuismanko (Cuismanco), in the south of the Cajamarca region.

Classification

Because it is poorly attested, it has not been possible to definitively classify Culli. It is typically considered a language isolate.

Jolkesky (2016) also notes that there are lexical similarities with Leco.

Vocabulary

What little is known of the Culli language consists solely of vocabulary.

• Manuscript by Martínez Compañón from the 1700s
• Words collected by Paul Rivet in 1934 from a 1915 wordlist recorded by priest of Cabana Teodoro Meléndez Gonzales of Pallasca, Department of Ancash, Peru

The following wordlist from the "plan" is taken from the Madrid manuscript.