Pericú is the
extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
and essentially unattested language of the
Pericú people who lived at the southern tip of
Baja California Sur. Jesuit missionaries recognized it as distinct from
Waikuri (Guaycura) immediately to the north. It was spoken in the mountainous area around the mission of
San José del Cabo, on the southeastern coast from
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...
to
La Paz
La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...
, and on the islands off the east coast as far north as
Isla San José.
Data is extremely limited, amounting to only four words and ten place names.
Classification
Massey (1949) suggested a connection with Waikuri. However, with the benefit of several decades of subsequent research, Laylander (1997) and Zamponi (2004) conclude that the languages were unrelated.
The Pericú may have shared with the Waikuri distinctive physical characteristics such as small bodies and
dolichocephalic crania (long-headedness). Those physical characteristics set them apart from most other Native Americans and are consistent with the theory that they were an ancient people and their language was a
language isolate
A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu and Burushaski in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America, and Tiwi ...
of ancient origin.
Attested words
Attested words in Pericú given by Zamponi (2004):
*''minyikári'' 'sky'
*''unóa'' 'give' (.)
*''utére'' 'sit'
The ethnonym
Waikuri and its variants likely originates from the Pericú word ''guaxoro'' 'friend'. Variations of the name include ''Waicuri, Guaicuri, Waicura, Guaycura, Guaicura, Waicuro, Guaicuro, Guaycuro, Vaicuro, Guaicuru, Guaycuru, Waikur''.
[Zamponi, Raoul. 2004. Fragments of Waikuri (Baja California). ''Anthropological Linguistics'' 46. 156-193.]
Toponyms
Attested
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...
s are:
[ León-Portilla 1976; ]
* ''Aiñiní:'' the location of the
Misión Santiago de Los Coras
* ''Anica:'' a Pericú settlement
* ''Añuití:'' the location of the
Mission San José del Cabo (near
San José del Cabo)
* ''Caduaño:'' a location in the modern city of
Los Cabos
LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to:
Science and technology
* Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation
* Level of service (transportation), Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers
* Level of significance, a ...
; means 'green arroyo'
* ''Cayuco''
* ''Cunimniici:'' a mountain range
* ''Eguí''
* ''Marino:'' the
Santa Ana Mountains
The Santa Ana Mountains are a short peninsular mountain range along the coast of Southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately southeast of the Los Angeles Basin largely along the border between Orange and Riversid ...
* ''Purum:'' a group of mountains and a Pericú settlement
* ''Yeneca:'' a Pericú settlement
* ''Yenecamu:''
Cabo San Lucas
References
Bibliography
* Golla, Victor. 2011. ''California Indian Languages''.
* Laylander, Don. 1997. "The linguistic prehistory of Baja California". In ''Contributions to the Linguistic Prehistory of Central and Baja California'', edited by Gary S. Breschini and Trudy Haversat, pp. 1–94. Coyote Press, Salinas, California.
* Massey, William C. 1949. "Tribes and languages of Baja California". ''Southwestern Journal of Anthropology'' 5:272-307.
* Zamponi, Raoul. 2004. "Fragments of Waikuri (Baja California)". ''Anthropological Linguistics'' 46:156-193.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pericu language
Indigenous languages of Mexico
Extinct languages of North America
History of Baja California Sur
Unclassified languages of North America
Languages extinct in the 18th century