Tacanan languages

This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (October 2024)

Takanan
Tacanan
Geographic distribution	Bolivia
Linguistic classification	Pano–Tacanan? Takanan
Subdivisions	Ese Ejja Araona–Tacana
Language codes
Glottolog	taca1255
Takanan languages (light green) and Panoan languages (dark green). Spots indicate documented locations.

Tacanan is a family of languages spoken in Bolivia, with Ese’ejja also spoken in Peru. It may be related to the Panoan languages. Many of the languages are endangered.

Toromono may be extinct. Another possibly extinct Tacanan language is Mabenaro; Arasa has been classified as Tacanan, but appears to have more in common with Panoan.

Below is a full list of Tacanan language varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties.^[1]

• Tacana - language with many relationships with the Arawak and Pano languages, spoken on the Beni River, Tuichi River, and Tequeje River, territory of Colonia, Bolivia; now spoken by only a few families. Dialects are:
  • Tumupasa / Maracáni - spoken on the Uchipiamona River in the same region.
  • Isiama / Ydiama - spoken on the Unduma River and around Ydiama.

• Araona - spoken on the Madre de Dios River and Manuripi River in Colonia, Bolivia
• Capechene / Capaheni - unknown language spoken on the Xapuri River and Rosiano River, Acre territory, Brazil. (Unattested.)
• Sapiboca - extinct language once spoken at the old mission of Reyes, Beni province, Bolivia.
• Chirigua / Shiribá - extinct language once spoken at the old mission of Santa Buenaventura, Beni. (Unattested.)
• Guarizo - extinct language once spoken at the old missions of Reyes and San Antonio de Isiama.
• Maropa - spoken in the vicinity of Lake Rogoaguado, Beni, now probably extinct.
• Guacanahua / Chama / Ese'ejja - spoken by a small tribe on the Madidi River and Undumo River, La Paz province, Bolivia.
• Mabenaro - spoken on the Manuripi River.
• Caviña / Cavineña - once spoken on the Cavinas River, Madidi River, and Beni River, now probably extinct.
• Toromona - once spoken between the Madidi River, Beni River, and Madre de Dios River, now perhaps extinct.
• Arasa - language spoken by the greater part of the Arazaire tribe (of Pano stock) on the Marcopata River and Arasa River.
• Tiatinagua / Mohino / Chuncho / Huarayo / Baguaja / Tambopata-Guarayo / Echoja - spoken by a tribe on the Peru-Bolivia border, on the Tambopata River.

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Kayuvava, Tupi, and Arawak language families due to contact.^[2]

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for the Tacanan languages.^[1]

Sample vocabulary of four Tacanan languages, along with Proto-Panoan for comparison, from Nikulin (2019):^[3]

gloss	Ese Ejja	Araona	Cavineña	Tacana	Proto-Panoan
liver	e-kakʷa	tákʷa	e-takʷa	e-takʷa	*takʷa
tongue	ej-ana	e-ána	j-ana	j-ana	*hana
blood		ami	ami	ami	*himi
you (sg.)	mi-a	mi	mi-	mi	*mi
hand	e-me	e-me	e-me-tuku	e-me	*mɨ-
earth	meʃi	mezizo	metʃi ‘soil’	med’i	*mai
meat	e-jami	e-ami	e-rami	j-ami ‘muscle’	*rami
stone		mahana	makana		*maka
bone	e-sá	e-tsoa	e-tsau	e-tsau	*ʂao
(finger)nail	e-me-kiʃe	Ø-mé-tezi		e-me-tid’i	*mɨ̃-tsis
fat	e-sei	e-tsei	e-tseri	e-tsei	*ʂɨ[n]i
tooth	e-sé	e-tse	e-tse	e-tse	*ʂɨta

Tacanan languages, in particular Cavineña and Ese Ejja, have among the richest associated motion systems in the world's languages.^[4]

• Girard, Victor (1971). Proto-Takanan Phonology (University of California Publications in Linguistics, 70.) Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press.

• Adelaar, Willem F. H.; & Muysken, Pieter C. (2004). The languages of the Andes. Cambridge language surveys. Cambridge University Press.
• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• 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.

• Proel: Familia Tacanana
• Tacana language dictionary online from IDS (select simple or advanced browsing)