Huarpe (''Warpe'') was a small language family of central Argentina (historic
Cuyo Province
The Province of Cuyo was a historical province of Argentina. Created on 14 November 1813 by a decree issued by the Second Triumvirate, it had its capital in Mendoza, and was composed of the territories of the present-day Argentine provinces of ...
) that consisted of two closely related languages. They are traditionally considered dialects, and include
Allentiac (Alyentiyak, Huarpe) and
Millcayac (Milykayak). A third, Puntano of
San Luis, was not documented before the languages became extinct.
Kaufman (1994) tentatively linked Huarpe to the
Mura-Matanawi languages in a family he called ''Macro-Warpean''. However, he noted that "no systematic study" had been made, so that it is best to consider them independent families. Swadesh and Suárez both connected Huarpe to
Macro-Jibaro
The Macro-Jibaro proposal, also known as ''(Macro-)Andean'', is a language proposal of Morris Swadesh and other historical linguists. The two families, Jivaroan and Cahuapanan are most frequently linked, the isolates less often. Documentatio ...
, a possibility that has yet to be investigated.
Varieties
Loukotka (1968)
Varieties classified by Loukotka (1968) as part of the Huarpe language cluster (all unattested unless noted otherwise, i.e. for Chiquiyama and Comechingon):
*Oico / Holcotian - once spoken in
Mendoza Province
Mendoza, officially Province of Mendoza, is a province of Argentina, in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders San Juan to the north, La Pampa and Neuquén to the south, San Luis to the east, and the republic o ...
in the
Diamante
A diamanté (also spelled diamante) is a glittering ornament, such as an artificial jewel (e.g. a rhinestone) or a sequin.
Diamante may also refer to:
Places
Argentina
* Diamante, Entre Ríos, a ''municipio'' in Diamante Department
* Diamante ...
Valley.
*Orcoyan / Oscollan - once spoken in the southern regions of
Mendoza Province
Mendoza, officially Province of Mendoza, is a province of Argentina, in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders San Juan to the north, La Pampa and Neuquén to the south, San Luis to the east, and the republic o ...
.
*Chiquiyama - once spoken between the city of
Mendoza and the Barranca River. (documented in Latcham 1927)
*Tuluyame / Puelche algarrobero - once spoken in the ,
Córdoba Province. (Unattested.)
*Michilenge / Puntano - once spoken in the
Conlara Valley,
San Luis Province
San Luis () is a province of Argentina located near the geographical center of the country (on the 32° South parallel). Neighboring provinces are, from the north clockwise, La Rioja, Córdoba, La Pampa, Mendoza and San Juan.
History
The cit ...
. (Unattested.)
*Olongasto - once spoken in
La Rioja Province by the neighbors of the Allentiac tribe. (Unattested.)
*Comechingon - extinct language once spoken in the
Sierra de Córdoba
Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" and " saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following:
Places Mountains and mountain ranges
* Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico
* Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain rang ...
in
Córdoba Province, Argentina (documented in Cafferata 1926; Canals Frau 1944a; Serrano 1944, 1945)
Mason (1950)
Varieties of the ''Huarpe-Comechingon'' linguistic group cited from Canals Frau (1944) by
Mason (1950):
;Huarpe-Comechingon
*
Allentiac (Huarpe of San Juan)
*
Millcayac (Huarpe of Mendocino)
*Puntano Huarpe
*Puelche of Cuyo
*Ancient Pehuenche
*Southern Comechingón (Camiare)
*Northern Comechingón (Henia)
*Olongasta (Southern Rioja) ?
Pericot y Garcia (1936) lists Zoquillam, Tunuyam, Chiquillan, Morcoyam, Diamantino (Oyco), Mentuayn, Chom, Titiyam, Otoyam, Ultuyam, and Cucyam.
Comechingón varieties:
*Comechingón
**Main
**Tuya
**Mundema
**Cáma
**Umba
*Michilingwe
*Indama
Phonology
The two languages had apparently similar sound systems, and were not dissimilar from Spanish, at least from the records we have. Barros (2007) reconstructs the consonants as follows:
Allentiac had at least six vowels, written ''a, e, i, o, u, ù''. The ''ù'' is thought to represent the central vowel .
Vocabulary
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for the Huarpean languages.
:
References
* J. Pedro Viegas Barros, 2007. ''Una propuesta de fonetización y fonemización tentativas de las hablas huarpes'', Universidad de Buenos Aires.
* Catalina Teresa Michieli, 1990
''Millcayac y Allentiac: Los dialectos del idioma Huarpe''Lengua Huarpeat pueblosoriginarios.com
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Language families
Indigenous languages of the South American Southern Foothills
Languages of Argentina