Macro-Chibchan is a proposed grouping of the languages of the
Lencan,
Misumalpan, and
Chibchan families into a single large phylum (
macrofamily
In historical linguistics, a macrofamily, also called a superfamily or phylum, is a proposed genetic relationship grouping together language families (also isolates) in a larger scale classification. Campbell, Lyle and Mixco, Mauricio J. (2007), ...
).
History
The Lencan and Misumalpan languages were once included in the
Chibchan family proper, but were excluded pending further evidence as that family became well established. Kaufman (1990) finds the Chibchan–Misumalpan connection convincing, if as yet unsubstantiated, though Campbell (1997) finds it doubtful. The
Xincan family was once included in Macro-Chibchan, but this is now doubtful.
Constenla (2005) calls this proposed phylum ''Lenmichí'' (Lencan–Misumalpan–Chibchan) and provides 85 cognate sets which exhibit regular sound correspondences among the three families. He suggests that
Chocoan
The Choco languages (also Chocoan, Chocó, Chokó) are a small family of Native American languages spread across Colombia and Panama.
Family division
Choco consists of six known branches, all but two of which are extinct.
*The Emberá langua ...
may be related as well.
Greenberg proposed a broader conception of Macro-Chibchan, one dismissed by linguists working on the families in question. It included
Yanomam
Yanomaman, also as Yanomam, Yanomáman, Yamomámi, and Yanomamana (also Shamatari, Shirianan), is a family of languages spoken by about 20,000 Yanomami people in southern Venezuela and northwestern Brazil ( Roraima, Amazonas).
Subdivision
...
,
Purépecha, and
Cuitlatec in addition to Chibchan–Misumalpan–Xinca–Lenca. Greenberg (1987) included
Paezan languages in a Chibchan-Paezan stock with
Barbacoan, Chibchan,
Chocoan
The Choco languages (also Chocoan, Chocó, Chokó) are a small family of Native American languages spread across Colombia and Panama.
Family division
Choco consists of six known branches, all but two of which are extinct.
*The Emberá langua ...
,
Jirajaran, and the isolates
Betoi,
Kamsá (
Sibundoy
Sibundoy (Camsá: Tabanok "village") is a town and municipality in the Putumayo Department of the Republic of Colombia.
The town existed well before the Spanish came in 1534. The Inca, under Huayna Cápac, conquered the local people in 1492 an ...
),
Yaruro,
Esmeraldeño,
Mochica,
Cunza,
Itonama, and
Yurumanguí.
An automated computational analysis (
ASJP 4) by Müller et al. (2013)
[Müller, André, Viveka Velupillai, Søren Wichmann, Cecil H. Brown, Eric W. Holman, Sebastian Sauppe, Pamela Brown, Harald Hammarström, Oleg Belyaev, Johann-Mattis List, Dik Bakker, Dmitri Egorov, Matthias Urban, Robert Mailhammer, Matthew S. Dryer, Evgenia Korovina, David Beck, Helen Geyer, Pattie Epps, Anthony Grant, and Pilar Valenzuela. 2013. ]
ASJP World Language Trees of Lexical Similarity: Version 4 (October 2013)
'. also found lexical similarities between
Chibchan and
Misumalpan. However, since the analysis was automatically generated, the grouping could be either due to mutual lexical borrowing or genetic inheritance.
Reconstruction
Constenla (2005) reconstructed five vowels and eleven consonants for Proto-Lenmichian, with the following reflexes:
Vowels
There are also a series of nasal vowels.
Consonants
References
*
Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .
*
*
*
Greenberg, Joseph H. (1987). ''Language in the Americas''. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
* Kaufman, Terrence (1990). "Language History in South America: What we know and how to know more." In Doris L. Payne, ed. ''Amazonian Linguistics'', pp. 13–74. Austin: University of Texas Press.
{{South American languages
Proposed language families
eo:Makro-ĉibĉa lingvaro