MundoAndino Home : Andes Colombia Guide at Mundo Andino
Paezan languages
Paezan is a hypothetical language family of Colombia and Ecuador.
Proposed genealogical relations
Currently, Paez (Nasa Yuwe) is best considered either a language isolate or the only surviving member of an otherwise extinct language family . However, Paez has often been grouped with other languages into a Paezan family, although some of these proposals are due to historical error. Campbell states: "There is no consensus upon Paezan, and opinions vary greatly".
Paez, Panzaleo, Andaqui
One of the more oft repeated statements is the supposed connection between Paez and the extinct Panzaleo , formerly spoken in highlands of Ecuador. However, Panzaleo is poorly documented and the evidence for this relationship is weak and may be due to language contact. Thus, Panzaleo may best be considered an unclassified isolate .
The Andaqui isolate (also extinct) is often connected with Paez in a Paezan grouping. The documentation consists of a 20-page list of words and expressions by an anonymous author published in 1928 and another wordlist collected in 1854 by a priest (Manuel Maria Albis). There are a number of similarities in vocabulary between Andaqui and Paez. In other aspects, the differences are greater. Gordon (2005) places Andaqui under the Barbacoan family.
Paez and Coconucan
The Coconucan languages were first grouped together with Paez by Henri Beuchat & Paul Rivet in 1910 . Curnow (1998) shows how this grouping is based on misinterpretation of a Moguex vocabulary of Douay (1888), which Curnow believes to be a mixed list of both Paez and Guambiano/Totoro. This has led to subsequent classifiers to group Paez with Guambiano (missing the obvious identification of Coconucan as a sub-family under Barbacoan) leading to a tree such as that of Kaufman (1994):
I. Andaqui
1. Andaqui
II. Paezan proper
2. Paez
3. Panzaleo
III. Coconucan
4. Coconuco
5. Guambiano (a.k.a. Guambiano-Moguez)
6. Totoro
Then, since Guambiano is connected with the Barbacoan family, a putative Paezan-Barbacoan (or Paes-Barbakoa) family develops:
I. Paezan
1. Andaqui
A. Paezan proper
2. Paez
3. Panzaleo
B. Coconucan
4. Coconuco
5. Guambiano
6. Totoro
II. Barbacoan
A. Northern
1. Awa Pit
2. Muellama
3. Pasto
B. Southern
4. Caranqui
5. Chapalaachi
6. Tsafiqui
Matteson's 1972 comparison of Paez and Guambiano vocabularies show just a 5.2% overlap. The same author has shown also that comparisons between Paez and Arawak, Quechua and Proto-Chibchan evidence greater similarities: respectively 16.9, 11.8 and 14.5%. Following linguists such as Matteson (1972), Curnow (1998), Curnow & Liddicoat (1998), and Adelaar & Muysken (2004), the Coconucan languages should be placed under Barbacoan. The question of connections between Paez, Panzaleo, and Andaqui remains open.
A family known as Interandine consists of Paez, Panzaleo, and the Coconucan languages (but excludes Andaqui).
Thus, a conservative classification will recognize Paez, Panzaleo, and Andaqui as isolates and a Barbacoan family consisting of Guambiano, Totoro, Awa Pit, Chapalaachi, and Tsafiqui that is, as of current research, not demonstrably related to these three isolates.
More distant relations
In spite of the confusion involving Paez and Guambiano discussed above, the Paezan "family" has been connected with other families into larger phylums. These currently remain to be supported by evidence. The most common proposal is the inclusion of Paezan into a Macro-Chibchan (or Chibchan-Paezan) stock with Barbacoan, Chibchan, Chocoan, Jirajiran, and other isolates, such as Betoi, Kamsa (Sibundoy), Yaruro, Esmeraldeno, Mochica, Cunza (Atacameno), Itonama, Yurumangui, and sometimes others.
Morris Swadesh's Paezan includes Paez, Barbacoan, Coconucan, Andaqui, Cunza, Kapixana, and Mashubi.
Kaufman's Macro-Paesan "cluster" proposal includes "Paesan" (as explained above), Barbacoan, Cunza-Kapixana, Betoi, Itonama, and Warao.
See also
Paez language
Barbacoan languages
Paez people
External links
Ethnologue: Paez
Ethnologue: Barbacoan
Proel: Sub-tronco Paezano
Proel: Familia Barbacoana
Bibliography
Adelaar, Willem F. H.; & Muysken, Pieter C. (2004). The languages of the Andes. Cambridge language surveys. Cambridge University Press.
Branks, Judith; Sanchez, Juan Bautista. (1978). The drama of life: A study of life cycle customs among the Guambiano, Colombia, South America . Summer Institute of Linguistics Museum of Anthropology Publication (No. 4). Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics Museum of Anthropology.
Brend, Ruth M. (Ed.). (1985). From phonology to discourse: Studies in six Colombian languages . Language Data, Amerindian Series (No. 9). Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Beuchat, Henri; & Rivet, Paul. (1910). Affinites des langues du sud de la Colombie et du nord de l'Equateur. Le Mouseon, 11, 33-68, 141-198.
Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
Constenla Umana, Adolfo. (1981). Comparative Chibchan phonology. .
Constenla Umana, Adolfo. (1991). Las lenguas del area intermedia: Introduccion a su estudio areal. San Jose: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica.
Constenla Umana, Adolfo. (1993). La familia chibcha. In (M. L. Rodriguez de Montes (Ed.), Estado actual de la clasificacion de las lenguas indigenas de Colombia (pp. 75-125). Bogota: Instituto Caro y Cuervo.
Curnow, Timothy J. (1998). Why Paez is not a Barbacoan language: The nonexistence of "Moguex" and the use of early sources. International Journal of American Linguistics, 64 (4), 338-351.
Curnow, Timothy J.; & Liddicoat, Anthony J. (1998). The Barbacoan languages of Colombia and Ecuador. Anthropological Linguistics, 40 (3).
Douay, Leon. (1888). Contribution a l'americanisme du Cauca (Colombie). Compte-Rendu du Congres International des Americanistes, 7, 763-786.
Fabre, Alain. (2005). Diccionario etnolinguistico y guia bibliografica de los pueblos indigenas sudamericanos. (To appear).
Gerdel, Florence L. (1979). Paez. In Aspectos de la cultura material de grupos etnicos de Colombia 2, (pp. 181-202). Bogota: Ministerio de Gobierno and Instituto Linguistico de Verano.
Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (Ed.). (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the world (15th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-159-X. .
Greenberg, Joseph H. (1960). General classification of Central and South American languages. In A. Wallace (Ed.), Men and cultures: Fifth international congress of anthropological and ethnological sciences (1956) (pp. 791-794). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Greenberg, Joseph H. (1987). Language in the Americas. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Heinze, Carol (Ed.). (1978). Estudios chibchas 2 . Serie Sintactica (No. 9). Bogota: Ministerio de Gobierno and Instituto Linguistico de Verano.
Kaufman, Terrence. (1990). Language history in South America: What we know and how to know more. In D. L. Payne (Ed.), Amazonian linguistics: Studies in lowland South American languages (pp. 13-67). Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-70414-3.
Kaufman, Terrence. (1994). The native languages of South America. In C. Mosley & R. E. Asher (Eds.), ''Atlas of the world's languages(pp. 46-76). London: Routledge.
Key, Mary R. (1979). The grouping of South American languages. Tubingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.
Landaburu, Jon. (1993). Conclusiones del seminario sobre clasificacion de lenguas indigenas de Colombia. In (M. L. Rodriguez de Montes (Ed.), Estado actual de la clasificacion de las lenguas indigenas de Colombia(pp. 313-330). Bogota: Instituto Caro y Cuervo.
Loukotka, Cestmir. (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: Latin American Studies Center, University of California.
Slocum, Marianna C. (1986). Gramatica paez'' . Lomalinda: Editorial Townsend.
Need more information for your travel research or homework?
Ask your questions at the forum about Languages of Colombia or help others to find answers.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Paezan languages
