The Peba–Yaguan language family (also Yaguan, Peban, Yáwan) is located in the northwestern
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
, but today Yagua is the only remaining spoken language of the family.
Internal structure
Paul Rivet
Paul Rivet (7 May 1876, Wasigny, Ardennes – 21 March 1958) was a French ethnologist known for founding the Musée de l'Homme in 1937. In his professional work, Rivet is known for his theory that South America was originally populated in p ...
had suggested that the Peba–Yaguan family divided into two branches, with
Yameo
Yameo is an extinct language from Peba–Yaguan language family that was formerly spoken in Peru. It was spoken along the banks of the Amazon River
The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the larg ...
in one branch, and
Peba and
Yagua
Yagua are an indigenous people in Colombia and northeastern Peru, numbering approximately 6,000. Currently, they live near the Amazon, Napo, Putumayo and Yavari rivers and their tributaries. As of 2005, some Yagua have migrated northward to ...
in the other. There is extremely little documentation of Yameo and Peba, both of which are now extinct, though the town
Pebas
Pebas District is one of four districts of the province Mariscal Ramón Castilla in Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the S ...
on the Amazon River clearly takes its name from this group of people. The available documentation is largely due to the efforts of early Catholic missionaries, summarized by
Paul Rivet
Paul Rivet (7 May 1876, Wasigny, Ardennes – 21 March 1958) was a French ethnologist known for founding the Musée de l'Homme in 1937. In his professional work, Rivet is known for his theory that South America was originally populated in p ...
.
Loukotka (1968) also lists Masamae (Mazán, Parara), spoken the
Mazán River in
Loreto Department
Loreto Department is a department of Argentina in Santiago del Estero Province. The capital city of the department is Loreto.
Villages
*Ayuncha
*Tío Pozo
Tío Pozo is a municipality and village in Santiago del Estero in Argentina
...
, Peru. It is most closely related to
Yameo
Yameo is an extinct language from Peba–Yaguan language family that was formerly spoken in Peru. It was spoken along the banks of the Amazon River
The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the larg ...
.
Jolkesky (2016) groups
Peba and
Yameo
Yameo is an extinct language from Peba–Yaguan language family that was formerly spoken in Peru. It was spoken along the banks of the Amazon River
The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the larg ...
in one branch, and
Yagua
Yagua are an indigenous people in Colombia and northeastern Peru, numbering approximately 6,000. Currently, they live near the Amazon, Napo, Putumayo and Yavari rivers and their tributaries. As of 2005, some Yagua have migrated northward to ...
in another separate branch.
[Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho De Valhery. 2016. ]
Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas
'. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Brasília
The University of Brasília ( pt, Universidade de Brasília, UnB) is a federal public university in Brasília, the capital of Brazil. It was founded in 1960 and has since consistently been named among the top five Brazilian universities and the ...
.
Classification
There is no sound scientific evidence yet that the Peba–Yaguan family is related to any other family or stock of South America (in particular, there is no evidence for grouping it with
Cariban languages
The Cariban languages are a family of languages indigenous to northeastern South America. They are widespread across northernmost South America, from the mouth of the Amazon River to the Colombian Andes, and they are also spoken in small pocke ...
). There has likely been contact between the Yaguas and
Bora–Witotoan peoples, perhaps particularly during the era of the rubber-trade; this may account for some structural similarities between the languages (Payne, forthcoming). Kaufman (2007) includes
Sabela
Sabela is a dialect of several major South African languages used primarily in South Africa. Sabela was originally developed inside Prisons in South Africa, national prisons as a means of communication within Prison gang, gangs, primarily The ...
,
Taushiro, and
Omurano in his
Yawan family.
Language contact
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the
Kwaza,
Zaparoan
Zaparoan (also Sáparoan, Záparo, Zaparoano, Zaparoana) is an endangered language family of Peru and Ecuador with fewer than 100 speakers. Zaparoan speakers seem to have been very numerous before the arrival of the Europeans. However, their grou ...
, and
Nambikwaran language families due to contact.
Vocabulary
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.
:
Further reading
*Powlison, P. (1995). Diccionario Yagua - Castellano. (Serie Lingüística Peruana, 35). Lima: Ministerio de Educación and Summer Institute of Linguistics.
References
* Payne, Doris L. forthcoming. ''Source of the Yagua classifier system''.
Catholic Encyclopedia article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peba-Yaguan languages
Language families