Quinigua (Kiniwa) is an extinct language that was spoken in northeastern Mexico. Quinigua was spoken between the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Sierra Tamaulipa la Nueva, and between the Rio Grande and the Rio del Pilón Grande. It has no apparent relatives and remains unclassified.

Classification

Gursky (1964) notes that Quinigua is highly different from its neighbors such as Coahuilteco, but observes some limited similarities with "Hokan-Coahuiltecan languages" such as Comecrudan and Yuman languages.

Vocabulary

A vocabulary list of Quinigua is documented in del Hoyo (1960). Gursky (1964) has selected and retranscribed some of del Hoyo's (1960) vocabulary, reproduced below.

gloss Quinigua bean mina broad patama deep sarak deer mau dog karama duck amakia earth ama eat ama, anama; ka(ene) fish ama, ami; ka foot (of deer) boi forehead niapin go wame, wan (?) great ya; ki head kai hill agu, ayu; imi javali, hog amoka many kai, ki rabbit kun rain paak red (or black) pan, pa reed aki, xi rock pixa tail (of deer) apino thick ta tobacco axo tree ana water ka, kwa, wa