Tacanan is a family of languages spoken in Bolivia, with Ese’ejja also spoken in Peru. It may be related to the Panoan languages. Many of the languages are endangered.

Family division

* Ese Ejja (a.k.a. Ese’eha, Tiatinagua, Chama, Huarayo, Guacanawa, Chuncho, Eseʼexa, Tatinawa, Ese exa) *Araona–Tacana ** Araona (a.k.a. Carina, Cavina) **Cavineña–Tacana *** Cavineña (a.k.a. Kavinenya) ***Tacana ****

Tacana Tacana is a Western Tacanan language spoken by some 1,800 Tacana people in Bolivia out of an ethnic population of 5,000. They live in the forest along the Beni is a Japanese R&B singer, who debuted in 2004 under the Avex Trax label. In 2 ...

(a.k.a. Tupamasa, Takana) **** Reyesano (a.k.a. San Borjano, Maropa) **** Toromono † Toromono is apparently extinct. Another possibly extinct Tacanan language is Mabenaro; Arasa has been classified as Tacanan, but appears to have more in common with Panoan.

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Kayuvava, Tupi, and

Arawak The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Great ...

language families due to contact.

Varieties

Below is a full list of Tacanan language varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties. *Tacana - language with many relationships with the Arawak and Pano languages, spoken on the

Beni River The Beni River ( es, Río Beni) is a river in the north of Bolivia. It rises north of La Paz and flows northeast. The Madre de Dios River is where its mouth is at. In the upper portion of its course it flows through highland forest and rainforest ...

Tuichi River The Tuichi River (in Spanish Río Tuichi) is a river in the Madidi National Park in the north of Bolivia. The Tuichi River flows through the rainforest and joins the Beni River south of Rurrenabaque. See also * Madidi River Madidi () is a r ...

, and Tequeje River, territory of Colonia, Bolivia; now spoken by only a few families. Dialects are: **Tumupasa / Maracáni - spoken on the Uchipiamona River in the same region. **Isiama / Ydiama - spoken on the Unduma River and around Ydiama. *Araona - once spoken on the

Madre de Dios River The Madre de Dios River () is a river shared by Bolivia and Peru which is homonymous to the Peruvian region it runs through. On Bolivian territory it receives the Beni River, close to the town of Riberalta, which later joins with the Mamore Rive ...

and Manuripi River in Colonia, Bolivia, now perhaps extinct. *Capechene / Capaheni - unknown language spoken on the

Xapuri River Xapuri () is a municipality located in the southeast of the Brazilian state The federative units of Brazil ( pt, unidades federativas do Brasil) are subnational entities with a certain degree of autonomy (self-government, self-regulation and ...

and Rosiano River, Acre territory, Brazil. (Unattested.) *Sapiboca - extinct language once spoken at the old mission of Reyes, Beni province, Bolivia. *Chirigua / Shiribá - extinct language once spoken at the old mission of Santa Buenaventura, Beni. (Unattested.) *Guarizo - extinct language once spoken at the old missions of Reyes and San Antonio de Isiama. *Maropa - spoken in the vicinity of

Lake Rogoaguado A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

, Beni, now probably extinct. *Guacanahua / Chama / Ese'ejja - spoken by a small tribe on the

Madidi River Madidi () is a river located in the La Paz Department of Bolivia. It is tributary of the Beni River and a part of the Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon ...

and Undumo River, La Paz province, Bolivia. *Mabenaro - spoken on the Manuripi River. *Caviña / Cavineña - once spoken on the Cavinas River,

, and

, now probably extinct. *Toromona - once spoken between the

, and

, now perhaps extinct. *Arasa - language spoken by the greater part of the Arazaire tribe (of Pano stock) on the Marcopata River and Arasa River. *Tiatinagua / Mohino / Chuncho / Huarayo / Baguaja / Tambopata-Guarayo / Echoja - spoken by a tribe on the Peru-Bolivia border, on the

Tambopata River The Tambopata River is a river in southeastern Peru and northwestern Bolivia. Most is in the Madre de Dios and Puno regions in Peru, but the upper parts of the river forms the border between Peru and Bolivia, and its origin is in La Paz departm ...

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for the Tacanan languages. Sample vocabulary of four Tacanan languages, along with Proto-Panoan for comparison, from Nikulin (2019):Nikulin, Andrey V
The classification of the languages of the South American Lowlands: State-of-the-art and challenges / Классификация языков востока Южной Америки
Illič-Svityč (Nostratic) Seminar / Ностратический семинар, October 17, 2019. :

Notes

References

* Adelaar, Willem F. H.; & Muysken, Pieter C. (2004). ''The languages of the Andes''. Cambridge language surveys. Cambridge University Press. * Campbell, Lyle. (1997). ''American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America''. New York: Oxford 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

Tacana language dictionary online from IDS
(select simple or advanced browsing) {{South American languages Pano-Tacanan languages Indigenous languages of South America (Central) Indigenous languages of Western Amazonia Languages of Bolivia Languages of Brazil Languages of Peru *