Bora–Witóto (also Bora–Huitoto, Bora–Uitoto, or, ambiguously, Witotoan) is a proposal to unite the Boran and Witotoan language families of southwestern

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( Amazonas Department) and neighboring regions of Peru and Brazil. Kaufman (1994) added the Andoque language.

Family division

* Boran * Witotoan (or Witoto–Ocaina) Kaufman (1994) lists Bóran and Witótoan (Huitoto–Ocaina) as separate families (they are grouped together with Andoque as ''Bora–Witótoan''; by 2007 he moved Andoque to Witotoan). (Note that Andoque was later demonstrated to be part of the Andoque–Urequena family.)

Genetic relations

Aschmann (1993) proposed Bora–Witoto as a connection between the Boran and Witotoan language families. Echeverri & Seifart (2016) refute the connection. Kaufman (2007) includes Bora-Witoto in his Macro-Andean proposal, and added the Andoque language to the Witotoan family.Kaufman, Terrence. 2007. South America. In: R. E. Asher and Christopher Moseley (eds.), ''Atlas of the World’s Languages (2nd edition)'', 59–94. London: Routledge. (Aschmann had considered Andoque a language isolate.) These proposals have not been accepted by other linguists. Gildea and Payne (2007) checked Bora-Witoto with Andoque, Proto-Cariban and Yagua, and found Bora-Witoto to be not related to any of the others. Mason (1950: 236–238) groups Bora–Witoto, Tupian, and Zaparoan together as part of a proposed ''Macro-Tupí-Guaranían'' family.Mason, J. Alden. 1950. The languages of South America. In: Julian Steward (ed.), ''Handbook of South American Indians'', Volume 6, 157–317. (

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, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143.) Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

Vocabulary

Below is a comparison of selected basic vocabulary items in Proto-Bora-Muinane (i.e., Proto-Boran), Bora, Proto-Witotoan, Witoto, and Andoque. :

References

Bibliography

* Aschmann, Richard P. (1993). ''Proto Witotoan''. Publications in linguistics (No. 114). Arlington, TX: SIL & the University of Texas at Arlington. * Campbell, Lyle. (1997). ''American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America''. New York: Oxford University Press. . * Echeverri, Juan Alvaro & Frank Seifart. (2016). ''Proto-Witotoan: A re-evaluation of the distant genealogical relationship between the Boran and Witotoan linguistic families.'' * Gildea, Spike and Doris Payne. (2007). Is Greenberg's "Macro-Carib" viable? Bol. Mus. Para. Emílio Goeldi. Ciencias Humanas, Belém, v. 2, n. 2, p. 19-72, May-Aug. 2007 Online version: http://www.museu-goeldi.br/editora/bh/artigos/chv2n2_2007/Greenbergs(gildea).pdf * Greenberg, Joseph H. (1987). ''Language in the Americas''. Stanford: Stanford University Press. * 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. . * 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.

External links

Familia Bora–Witoto
at Proel {{DEFAULTSORT:Bora-Witoto languages Indigenous languages of the South American Northern Foothills Indigenous languages of Western Amazonia Proposed language families