The Sechura language, also known as Sek, is an extinct language spoken in the Piura Region of

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

, near the port of

Sechura Sechura is a city in northwestern Peru, south of Piura. It is the capital of Sechura Province in the Piura Region. The city lends its name to the Sechura Desert The Sechura Desert is a coastal desert located south of the Piura Region of Pe ...

. It appears to have become extinct by the beginning of the 20th century. The only documentation is that of an 1863 wordlist by Richard Spruce, as well as a word list by Bishop Martínez Compañón (1782-1790).Martínez Compañón, Baltasar Jaime. 1985 782-1790 ''Trujillo del Perú en el siglo XVIII'', vol. 2. Madrid: Ediciones Cultura Hispánica.

Classification

Sechura is too poorly known to be definitively classified. Kaufman notes that a connection between Sechura and the Catacaoan languages is likely and is supported by lexical evidence.

Sek family

Rivet groups Sechura and Tallán together under the same ''Sek'' when he compares them to the Catacaoan languages. In comparing wordlists from Sechura and Tallán, Torero finds six likely cognates between the two: However, '' Glottolog'' says the data is not compelling.

Vocabulary

Martínez Compañón (1782-1790)

Below are sample Sechura words from a manuscript (currently held in Madrid) by Bishop Martínez Compañón (1782-1790). There is another copy of the manuscript currently held in Bogotá, which Urban (2019) considers to be less reliable and not the original.Urban, Matthias. 2019.
Lost languages of the Peruvian North Coast
'. Estudios Indiana 12. Berlin: Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut (Preußischer Kulturbesitz) & Gebr. Mann Verlag. :

Spruce (1863)

Below is Richard Spruce's 1863 Sechura word list as transcribed by Matthias Urban (2015).Urban, Matthias (2015). El vocabulario sechurano de Richard Spruce. ''Lexis'' Vol. 39(2): 395-413. Some transcriptions are uncertain, with alternative transcriptions following semicolons. :

References

{{Reflist Languages of Peru Language isolates of South America