The Malibu languages are a poorly attested group of extinct languages once spoken along the
Magdalena River in Colombia. Material exists only for two of the numerous languages mentioned in the literature:
Malibú and
Mocana.
Classification
The Malibu languages have previously been grouped into a single family with the
Chimila language.
However, Chimila is now known to be a
Chibchan language, and Adelaar & Muysken regard the grouping of Chimila with the Malibu languages as "without any factual basis".
Family division
Rivet listed three Malibu tribes, each with its own language:
*
Malibú, spoken near the
Magdalena River from
Tamalameque to
Tenerife
Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...
*Mocaná, spoken by the
Mokaná people in the region east of
Cartagena (Rivet 1947b; Simón 1882-1892, vol. 4, p. 298, only two words.)
*Pacabuey, also known as Sompallón or Laguna Malibu, spoken near the Zapatoza lagoon (Unattested.)
To this list, Loukotka adds six more languages, all of which are unattested (excluding Chimila):
*Papale, spoken on the
Fundación River
The Fundación River is a river in northern Colombia, originating from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in the Cesar Department but flows down to the Magdalena Department crossing the town and municipality of Fundación before reaching the Ciénaga ...
*Coanoa or Guanoa, spoken on the
Cesar River
*Zamirua, spoken on the
Ariguaní River
*Cospique, spoken somewhere in the
Department of Magdalena
*Mompox, spoken near the city of
Santa Cruz de Mompox (attested per Rivet 1947)
*Calamari, spoken along the coast south of
Cartagena to
Coveñas
Vocabulary
Rivet gives a brief list of words from Malibú and Mocana.
A selection of these is provided below:
*''tahana'' –
manzanilla tree
*''malibu'' – chief
*''man'' – small boat
*''ytaylaco'' / ''yteylaco'' / ''yntelas'' / ''ytaylas'' – devil, deity
*''entaha'' / ''enbutac'' –
cassava
''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...
References
{{South American languages
Languages of Colombia
Language families
Unclassified languages of South America
Extinct languages of South America