The Chibchan languages (also known as Chibchano) make up a

language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics ...

indigenous to the Isthmo-Colombian Area, which extends from eastern

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

to northern

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

and includes populations of these countries as well as

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

, and

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. The name is derived from the name of an

extinct language An extinct language or dead language is a language with no living native speakers. A dormant language is a dead language that still serves as a symbol of ethnic identity to an ethnic group; these languages are often undergoing a process of r ...

called ''

Chibcha The Muisca (also called the Chibcha) are indigenous peoples in Colombia and were a Pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia, Pre-Columbian culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish colonizati ...

'' or ''Muisca'', once spoken by the people who lived on the

Altiplano Cundiboyacense The Altiplano Cundiboyacense () is a high plateau located in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes covering parts of the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá. (Do not confuse with The Altiplano or the Altiplano Nariñense, both fur ...

of which the city of

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

was the southern capital at the time of the Spanish Conquista. However, genetic and linguistic data now indicate that the original heart of Chibchan languages and Chibchan-speaking peoples might not have been in Colombia, but in the area of the

border, where the greatest variety of Chibchan languages has been identified.

External relations

A larger family called '' Macro-Chibchan'', which would contain the

Misumalpan languages The Misumalpan languages (also Misumalpa or Misuluan) are a small family of languages spoken by different ethnic groups on the east coast of Nicaragua and the Eastern Half of HonduraThe name "Misumalpan" was devised by John Alden Mason and is co ...

, Xinca, and

Lenca The Lenca,are an Indigenous people from present day southwest Honduras and eastern El Salvador in Central America. They historically spoke various dialects of the Lencan languages such as Chilanga, Putun (Potón), and Kotik, but today are nat ...

, was found convincing by Kaufman (1990). Based primarily on evidence from grammatical morphemes, Pache (2018, 2023) suggests a distant relationship with the Macro-Jê languages. Chibchan languages map

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Andaki, Barbakoa, Choko, Duho, Paez, Sape, and Taruma language families due to contact.

Classification

* Chibchan ** A *** Waimí (Guaymi) **** Guaymí (Ngäbere, Movere) – 170,000 speakers, vulnerable in

, endangered in

****

Buglere Buglere, also known as Bugle, Murire and Muoy, is a Chibchan language of Panama closely related to Guaymi. There are two dialects, Sabanero and Bokotá (Bogota), spoken by the Bokota people The Bokota, also called Bogotá or Bugleres, are an ...

(Bokotá) – 18,000 speakers, endangered *** Borũca (Brunca) – 140 speakers, moribund *** Talamanca **** Huetar (Güetar) **** Bribri (Talamanca), 7,000 speakers – vulnerable in

, endangered in

**** Cabécar (Talamanca) – 8,800 speakers, vulnerable **** Teribe (Norteño) – 3,300 speakers, endangered ** B *** Pech (Paya) – 990 speakers, endangered *** Dorasque *** Votic ****

Rama Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda' ...

– 740 speakers, moribund **** Voto **** Maléku (Guatuso) – 750 speakers, endangered **** Corobicí – northwestern Costa Rica *** Cuna–Colombian **** Guna (Dulegaya) – 60,600 speakers, vulnerable in

, endangered in

**** Chibcha–Motilon ***** Barí (Motilón) – 5,000 speakers, vulnerable ***** Chibcha–Tunebo ******

Muisca The Muisca (also called the Chibcha) are indigenous peoples in Colombia and were a Pre-Columbian culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The Muisca spe ...

– ****** Duit ****** U'wa (Tunebo) – 2,550 speakers, endangered ****** Guane – Colombia **** Arwako–Chimila ***** Chimila – 350 speakers, endangered ***** Arwako ****** Wiwa (Malayo, Guamaca) – 1,850 speakers, endangered ****** Kankuamo ****** Arhuaco (Ikʉ) – 8,000 speakers, vulnerable ****** Kogi ( Cogui) – 9,910 speakers, vulnerable The extinct languages of Antioquia, Old Catío and Nutabe have been shown to be Chibchan (Adelaar & Muysken, 2004:49). The language of the

Tairona Tairona or Tayrona was a Pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia, Pre-Columbian culture of Colombia, which consisted in a group of chiefdoms in the region of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in present-day Cesar Department, Cesar, Magdalena Department, Mag ...

is unattested, apart from a single word, but may well be one of the Arwako languages still spoken in the Santa Marta range. It is said to be used by the Kogi people as a shamanistic ritual language. The

Zenú The ''Zenú'' or ''Sinú'' is a Pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia, pre-Columbian culture and Indigenous people in Colombia, whose ancestral territory comprises the valleys of the Sinú River, Sinú and San Jorge River, San Jorge rivers as well ...

Sinú language of northern Colombia is also sometimes included, as are the

Malibu languages 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 Th ...

, though without any factual basis. Zenú is also sometimes linked with the Chocoan languages. Adolfo Constenla Umaña argues that Cueva, the extinct dominant language of Pre-Columbian Panama long assumed to be Chibchan based on a misinterpreted Kuna vocabulary, was actually Chocoan, but there is little evidence. The

Cofán language Cofán or Kofán, known in the language itself as ''Aingae'', is the primary language of the Cofán people, an indigenous group whose ancestral territory lies at the interface between the Andean foothills and Amazonia in the northeast of Ecuador ...

(Kofán, Kofane, A'ingae) of Ecuador and Colombia has been erroneously included in Chibchan due to borrowed vocabulary. On the basis of shared grammatical innovations, Pache (2023) argues that Pech is most closely related to the Arhuacic languages of northern Colombia, forming a Pech-Arhuacic subgroup.

Loukotka (1968)

Below is a full list of Chibchan language varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties. Loukotka also included other language families, like Barbacoan, Kamëntšá (Camsá), and Paezan, which are no longer accepted as Chibchan. ;Rama group *Rama – language spoken around

Bluefields Bluefields is the capital of the South Caribbean Autonomous Region in Nicaragua. It was also the capital of the former Kingdom of Mosquitia, and later the Zelaya Department, which was divided into North and South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Reg ...

Lagoon and on the Rama River, Nicaragua. *Melchora – extinct language once spoken on the San Juan Melchoras River, Nicaragua. (Unattested.) ;Guatuso group *Guatuso – spoken on the Frío River, Costa Rica, now perhaps extinct. *Guetar / Brusela – extinct language once spoken on the Grande River, Costa Rica. *Suerre / Camachire / Chiuppa – extinct language once spoken on the Tortuguero River, Costa Rica. (Benzoni 1581, p. 214, only five words.) *Pocosi – extinct language once spoken on the Matina River and around the modern city of Puerto Limón, Costa Rica. (Unattested.) *Voto – extinct language once spoken at the mouth of the San Juan River, Costa Rica. (Unattested.) *Quepo – extinct language once spoken in Costa Rica on the Pacuare River. (W. Lehmann 1920, vol. 1, p. 238, only one single word.) *Corobisi / Corbesi / Cueresa / Rama de Rio Zapote – spoken by a few individuals in Costa Rica on the Zapote River. (Alvarez in Conzemius 1930, pp. 96–99.) ;Talamanca group *Terraba / Depso / Quequexque / Brurán – extinct language once spoken in Costa Rica on the Tenorio River. *Tirub / Rayado / Tiribi – extinct language spoken once in Costa Rica on the Virilla River. *Bribri / Lari – spoken on the Coca River and Tarire River, Costa Rica. *Estrella – Spanish name of an extinct language, the original name of which is unknown, once spoken on the Estrella River, Costa Rica. *Cabecar – language spoken on the Moy River, Costa Rica. *Chiripó – language spoken in Costa Rica on the Matina River and Chirripó River. *Viceyta / Abiseta / Cachi / Orosi / Tucurrique – extinct language once spoken on the Tarire River, Costa Rica. *Brunca / Boruca / Turucaca – extinct language of Costa Rica, spoken on the Grande River and in the Boruca region. *Coto / Cocto – extinct language once spoken between the sources of the Coto River and Grande River, Costa Rica. (Unattested.) ;Dorasque group *Chumulu – extinct language once spoken in El Potrero, Veraguas (Potrero de Vargas), Panama. *Gualaca – extinct language once spoken on the Chiriqui River, Panama. *Changuena – once spoken in Panama, on the Changuena River. ;Guaymi group *Muoi – extinct language once spoken in the Miranda Valley of Panama. *Move / Valiente – now spoken on the Guaymi River and in the Veragua Peninsula. *Norteño – dialect without an aboriginal name, spoken on the northern coast of Panama, now perhaps extinct. *Penonomeño – once spoken in the village of Penonemé. *Murire / Bucueta / Boncota / Bogota – spoken in the Serranía de Tabasara by a few families. *Sabanero / Savaneric / Valiente – extinct dialect without aboriginal name, once spoken on the plains south of the Serranía de Tabasara. *Pariza – extinct dialect spoken in the Conquest days on the Veragua Peninsula. (G. Espinosa 1864, p. 496, only one single word.) ;Cuna group *Coiba – extinct language once spoken on the

Chagres River The Chagres River (), in central Panama, is the largest river in the Panama Canal's drainage basin. The river is dammed twice, and the resulting reservoirs—Gatun Lake and Lake Alajuela—form an integral part of the canal and its water ...

, Panama. (W. Lehmann 1920, vol. I, pp. 112–122; A. Santo Tomas 1908, pp. 124–128, only five words.) *Cuna / Bayano / Tule / Mandingo / San Blas / Karibe-Kuna / Yule – language spoken in eastern Panama, especially on the Bayano River, in San Blas and the small islands on the northern coast. *Cueva / Darien – extinct language Once spoken at the mouth of the

Atrato River The Atrato River () is a river of northwestern Colombia. It rises in the slopes of the Western Cordillera and flows almost due north to the Gulf of Urabá (or Gulf of Darién), where it forms a large, swampy delta. Its course crosses the Ch ...

, Colombia. *Chochama – extinct language once spoken on the Suegro River, Panama. (Unattested.) ;Antioquia group *Guazuzú – once spoken in the Sierra de San Jerónimo, department of Antioquia, Colombia. (Unattested.) *Oromina / Zeremoe – extinct language once spoken south of the

Gulf of Urabá The Gulf of Urabá is a gulf on the northern coast of Colombia. It is part of the Caribbean Sea. It is a long, wide inlet located on the coast of Colombia, close to the connection of the continent to the Isthmus of Panama. The town of Turbo, Co ...

, Antioquia, Colombia. (Unattested.) *Catio – once spoken in the region of Dabaiba, Colombia. (only a few words.) *Hevejico – once spoken in the Tonusco and

Ebéjico Ebéjico () is a town and municipality in the West of Antioquia Department, Colombia. The population was 10,338 at the 2018 census. Limits Ebéjico is bounded on the north by the municipality towns of Santa Fe de Antioquia, Sopetrán and St. ...

Valleys. (Unattested.) *Abibe – once spoken in the Sierra de Abibe. (Unattested.) *Buritaca – once spoken at the sources of the Sucio River. (Unattested.) *Caramanta – once spoken around the city of Caramanta. *Cartama – once spoken around the modern city of Cartama. (Unattested.) *Pequi – once spoken in the Pequi region. (Unattested.) *Arma – once spoken on the Pueblanco River. (Unattested.) *Poze – once spoken on the Pozo River and Pacova River. (Cieza de Leon 1881, p. 26, only one single word.) *Nutabé – once spoken in the San Andrés Valley. *Tahami – once spoken on the

Magdalena River The Magdalena River (, ; less commonly ) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of its lower reaches, ...

and Tora River. (Unattested.) *Yamesi – once spoken at the mouth of the Nechi River and on the Porce River. (Simon 1882–1892, vol. 5, p. 80, only one single word.) *Avurrá – once spoken in the Aburrá Valley. (Piedrahita (Fernandez de Piedrahita) 1688, cap. 2, f. 9, only one single word.) *Guamoco – once spoken around the modern city of Zaragoza, Antioquia. (Unattested.) *Anserma / Humbra / Umbra – once spoken on the Cauca River around the city of Anserma, Caldas. (J. Robledo 1865, pp. 389 and 392, only a few words.) *Amachi – once spoken in the San Bartolomé Valley. (Unattested.) ;Chibcha group *Chibcha / Muisca / Mosca – extinct language once spoken on the upper plateau of Bogotá and Tunja, department of Cundinamarca, Colombia. **Duit dialect – once spoken on the Tunja River and Tundama River. *Tunebo / Tame – language now spoken by many tribes living in the area east of the Chibcha tribe. Dialects: **Tegría – spoken on the Tegría River, department of Boyaca. (Rochereau 1926–1927, 1946–1950, 1959.) **Pedraza – spoken on the Pedraza River. **Boncota – spoken on the Boncota River. **Manare – spoken on the Manare River. **Sinsiga / Chita – spoken in the village of Chita, Boyacá and on the Chisca River. **Uncasica – spoken in the Sierra Librada. **Morcote – spoken on the Tocaría River and in the village of Morcote. (Unattested.) *Chitarero – extinct language once spoken around the modern city of

Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...

, department of Santander. (Unattested.) *Lache – extinct language once spoken on the Chicamocha River and in the Sierra de Chita, department of Boyacá. (Unattested.) ;Motilon group *Dobocubí / Motilon – spoken on the Tarra River and around the old mission of Atacarayo, department of Norte de Santander, Colombia. *Bartra / Cunaguasáya – spoken by a tribe on the Oro River, Rincón River, and Lora River in the Norte de Santander region. *Mape – spoken by a little known tribe on the Catatumbo River and Agua Blanca River in the Norte de Santander region and in the state of Zulia, Venezuela. ;Arhuaco (Arwako) group *Tairona / Teyuna – extinct language once spoken on the Frio River and on the Caribbean coast, department of Magdalena, Colombia, now a secret language of the priests in the Cagaba tribe. *Zyuimakane – extinct language once spoken on the Volador River in the same region. (Unattested.) *Bungá – extinct language once spoken on the Santa Clara River. (Unattested.) *Ulabangui – once spoken on the Negro River, in the Santa Clara River region. (Unattested.) *Cashingui – once spoken on the Palomino River. (Unattested.) *Masinga – once spoken on the Bonda River, in the Palomino River region. (Unattested.) *Bonda / Matuna – once spoken on the Bonda River and Santa María River. (Holmer 1953a, p. 313, only one single word; Preuss 1927, only a few toponyms.) *Cágaba / Köggaba / Kaugia / Koghi – language spoken in the

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (English: ''Snow-Covered Mountain Range of Saint Martha'') is an isolated mountain range in northern Colombia, separate from the Andes range that runs through the north of the country. Reaching an elevation of ...

in the villages of San Andrés, San Miguel, San José, Santa Rosa, and Pueblo Viejo. *Guamaca / Nábela / Sanha / Arsario – spoken in the

region in the villages of El Rosario, Potrerito, and Marocaso. *Bintucua / Ijca / Ika / Iku / Machaca / Vintukva – spoken in the

region in the village of San Sebastián (near Atanquez). *Atanque / Campanaque / Busintana / Buntigwa / Kallwama – spoken in the

, in the village of Atanquez. *Upar / Eurpari / Giriguana – extinct language once spoken on the César River. (Unattested.) *Cariachil – once spoken between the Molino River and Fonseca River. (Unattested.) *Ocanopán / Itoto – once spoken around Cerro Pintado. (Unattested.) ;Paya group *Paya / Poyuai / Seco – language spoken on the Guayape River and between the Patuca River and Sico River, Honduras.

Jolkesky (2016)

Internal classification by Jolkesky (2016):Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho De Valhery. 2016.
Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas
''. Ph.D. dissertation,

University of Brasília A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. ( = extinct) * Chibcha ** '' Pech'' ** Votic *** '' Maleku'' *** ''

'' *** ''Wetar'' ** Isthmus *** Boruka-Talamanca **** '' Boruka'' **** Talamanca ***** '' Teribe'' ***** Bribri-Kabekar ****** '' Bribri'' ****** '' Kabekar'' *** Doraske-Changena **** '' Changena'' **** '' Doraske'' *** Guaymi **** ''

'' **** '' Ngäbe'' *** Kuna **** ''Kuna Paya-Pukuro'' **** ''Kuna San Blas'' ** Magdalena *** '' Barí'' *** '' Chimila'' *** '' Nutabe'' *** '' U'wa'' *** Muisca **** '' Guane'' **** ''

'' *** Sierra de Santa Marta **** '' Kaggaba'' **** ''

'' **** Wiwa-Ika ***** '' Ika'' ***** '' Kankuamo'' ***** '' Wiwa''

Proto-language

Pache (2018) is the most recent reconstruction of Proto-Chibchan.Pache, Matthias J. 2018.
Contributions to Chibchan Historical Linguistics
'. Doctoral dissertation, Universiteit Leiden. Other reconstructions include Holt (1986).

Constenla (1981)

Proto-Chibchan reconstructions by Constenla (1981): Proto-Chibchan horticultural vocabulary (Constenla 2012):Constenla Umaña, Adolfo. 2012. Chibchan languages. In Lyle Campbell and Verónica Grondona (eds.), ''The Indigenous Languages of South America: A Comprehensive Guide'', 391–440. Berlin: Mouton. * *dihke 'to sow' * *te¹ 'cultivated clearing' * *ike 'manioc' * *tuʔ 'tuber, yam' ('' Dioscorea'' spp.; '' Xanthosoma sagittifolium'') * *apì 'pumpkin, squash' * *e, *ebe 'maize' * *du, *dua¹ 'tobacco' * *tã¹ 'rattles from gourd' * *toka 'gourd cup'

Pache (2018)

Proto-Chibchan reconstructions by Pache (2018):

References

Bibliography

* Constenla Umaña, A. (1981). ''Comparative Chibchan Phonology''. (Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia). * Constenla Umaña, A. (1985). Las lenguas dorasque y changuena y sus relaciones genealógicas. ''Filologia y linguística'', 11.2:81–91. * Constenla Umaña, Adolfo. (1991). ''Las lenguas del Área Intermedia: Introducción a su estudio areal''. Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica, San José. * Constenla Umaña, Adolfo. (1995). Sobre el estudio diacrónico de las lenguas chibchenses y su contribución al conocimiento del pasado de sus hablantes. ''Boletín del Museo del Oro'' 38–39: 13–56. * ''Estudios de Lingüística Chibcha'', a journal of Chibchan linguistics, is published by the Universidad de Costa Rica. * Greenberg, Joseph H. (1987). ''Language in the Americas''. Stanford: Stanford University Press. * Headland, E. (1997). ''Diccionario bilingüe con una gramatica Uw Cuwa (Tunebo)''. Bogotá: Summer Institute of Linguistics. * Holt, Dennis (1986). ''The Development of the Paya Sound-System''. (Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles). * Margery Peña, E. (1982). ''Diccionario español-bribri, bribri-español''. San José: Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica. * Margery Peña, E. (1989). ''Diccionario Cabécar-Español, Español-Cabécar''. Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica. * Pinart, A. L. (1890). ''Vocabulario Castellano-Dorasque: Dialectos Chumulu, Gualaca y Changuina''. (Petite Bibliothèque Américaine, 2). Paris: Ernest Leroux. * Pinart, A. L. (1892). ''Vocabulario Guaymie: Dialectos Move-Valiente Norteño y Guaymie Penonomeño''. (Petite Bibliothèque Américaine, 3). Paris: Ernest Leroux. * Pinart, A. L. (1897). ''Vocabulario Guaymie: Dialectos Murıre-Bukueta, Mouı y Sabanero''. (Petite Bibliothèque Américaine, 4). Paris: Ernest Leroux. * Quesada, J. Diego (2007). ''The Chibchan Languages''. Editorial Tecnológica de Costa Rica. . * Quesada Pacheco, M. A.; Rojas Chaves, C. (1999). ''Diccionario boruca-español, español-boruca''. San José: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica.

External links

Comparative Chibchan phonology
— 1981 dissertation by Adolfo Constenla. {{authority control Language families Indigenous languages of Central America Indigenous languages of the South American Northeast Macro-Chibchan languages