Bora–Witóto (also Bora–Huitoto, Bora–Uitoto, or, ambiguously, Witotoan) is a proposal to unite the
Boran
Boran (also spelled Buran, Middle Persian: ; New Persian: پوراندخت, ''Pūrāndokht'') was Sasanian queen (or ''banbishn'') of Iran from 630 to 632, with an interruption of some months. She was the daughter of king (or '' shah'') Khos ...
and
Witotoan language families of southwestern
Colombia (
Amazonas Department
Amazonas () is a department of Southern Colombia in the south of the country. It is the largest department in area while also having the 3rd smallest population. Its capital is Leticia and its name comes from the Amazon River, which drains the ...
) and neighboring regions of Peru and Brazil. Kaufman (1994) added the
Andoque language.
Family division
*
Boran
Boran (also spelled Buran, Middle Persian: ; New Persian: پوراندخت, ''Pūrāndokht'') was Sasanian queen (or ''banbishn'') of Iran from 630 to 632, with an interruption of some months. She was the daughter of king (or '' shah'') Khos ...
*
Witotoan (or Witoto–Ocaina)
Kaufman (1994) lists Bóran and Witótoan (Huitoto–Ocaina) as separate families (they are grouped together with
Andoque as ''Bora–Witótoan''; by 2007 he moved Andoque to Witotoan).
Genetic relations
Aschmann (1993) proposed Bora–Witoto as a connection between the Boran and Witotoan language families. Echeverri & Seifart (2016) refute the connection.
Kaufman (2007) includes Bora-Witoto in his
Macro-Andean
Macro-Andean is a speculative proposal by Kaufman (2007) linking languages of the northern Andes.
Kaufman (1990) found lexical support for proposals linking the Jivaro–Cahuapanan families as suggested by Swadesh and others. By 2007 he had ten ...
proposal, and added the
Andoque language to the Witotoan family.
[Kaufman, Terrence. 2007. South America. In: R. E. Asher and Christopher Moseley (eds.), ''Atlas of the World’s Languages (2nd edition)'', 59–94. London: Routledge.] (Aschmann had considered Andoque a
language isolate.) These proposals have not been accepted by other linguists. Gildea and Payne (2007) checked Bora-Witoto with Andoque, Proto-Cariban and Yagua, and found Bora-Witoto to be not related to any of the others.
Mason (1950: 236–238) groups Bora–Witoto,
Tupian
The Tupi or Tupian language family comprises some 70 languages spoken in South America, of which the best known are Tupi proper and Guarani.
Homeland and ''urheimat''
Rodrigues (2007) considers the Proto-Tupian urheimat to be somewhere between ...
, and
Zaparoan together as part of a proposed ''Macro-Tupí-Guaranían'' family.
[Mason, J. Alden. 1950. The languages of South America. In: Julian Steward (ed.), ''Handbook of South American Indians'', Volume 6, 157–317. (]Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143.) Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
References
Bibliography
* Aschmann, Richard P. (1993). ''Proto Witotoan''. Publications in linguistics (No. 114). Arlington, TX: SIL & the University of Texas at Arlington.
* Campbell, Lyle. (1997). ''American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America''. New York: Oxford University Press. .
* Echeverri, Juan Alvaro & Frank Seifart. (2016). ''Proto-Witotoan: A re-evaluation of the distant genealogical relationship between the Boran and Witotoan linguistic families.''
* Gildea, Spike and Doris Payne. (2007). Is Greenberg's "Macro-Carib" viable? Bol. Mus. Para. Emílio Goeldi. Ciencias Humanas, Belém, v. 2, n. 2, p. 19-72, May-Aug. 2007 Online version: http://www.museu-goeldi.br/editora/bh/artigos/chv2n2_2007/Greenbergs(gildea).pdf
* Greenberg, Joseph H. (1987). ''Language in the Americas''. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
* Kaufman, Terrence. (1990). Language history in South America: What we know and how to know more. In D. L. Payne (Ed.), ''Amazonian linguistics: Studies in lowland South American languages'' (pp. 13–67). Austin: University of Texas Press. .
* Kaufman, Terrence. (1994). The native languages of South America. In C. Mosley & R. E. Asher (Eds.), ''Atlas of the world's languages'' (pp. 46–76). London: Routledge.
External links
* Proel:
*
Familia Bora–Witoto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bora-Witoto languages
Indigenous languages of the South American Northern Foothills
Indigenous languages of Western Amazonia
Proposed language families