Mataguayo–Guaicuru, Mataco–Guaicuru or Macro-Waikurúan is a proposed
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 ...
consisting of the
Mataguayan and
Guaicuruan languages. Pedro Viegas Barros claims to have demonstrated it. These languages are spoken in Argentina, Brazil,
Paraguay
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
, and
Bolivia
Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
.
Genetic relations
Jorge Suárez linked Guaicuruan and
Charruan in a ''Waikuru-Charrúa'' stock. Kaufman (2007: 72) has also added
Lule–Vilela and
Zamucoan,
[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.] while
Morris Swadesh
Morris Swadesh ( ; January 22, 1909 – July 20, 1967) was an American linguist who specialized in comparative and historical linguistics, and developed his mature career at UNAM in Mexico. Swadesh was born in Massachusetts to Bessarabian Jewi ...
proposed a ''Macro-Mapuche'' stock that included Matacoan, Guaicuruan, Charruan, and Mascoyan. Campbell (1997) has argued that those hypotheses should be further investigated, though he no longer intends to evaluate it.
Language contact
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the
Arawakan
Arawakan (''Arahuacan, Maipuran Arawakan, "mainstream" Arawakan, Arawakan proper''), also known as Maipurean (also ''Maipuran, Maipureano, Maipúre''), is a language family that developed among ancient Indigenous peoples in South America. Branch ...
,
Tupian,
Trumai, and
Ofayé language families due to contact, pointing to an origin of Proto-Mataguayo-Guaicuruan in the Upper
Paraguay River
The Paraguay River (''Ysyry Paraguái'' in Guarani language, Guarani, ''Rio Paraguai'' in Portuguese language, Portuguese, ''Río Paraguay'' in Spanish language, Spanish) is a major river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Bol ...
basin.
Classification
Internal classification by Jolkesky (2016):
( = extinct)
*Macro-Mataguayo-Guaykuru
**''
Payagua''
**''
Guachi''
**
Guaykuru
***''
Kadiweu''
***Qom-Abipon
****''
Abipon''
****Qom
*****Qom, Southern: ''
Mokovi''
*****Qom, Northern: ''
Pilaga''; ''
Toba''
**
Mataguayo
***Mataguayo, Western
****Chorote: ''
Chorote Iyojwa'ja''; ''
Chorote Iyo'wujwa''
****Wichi: ''
Wichi Guisnay''; ''
Wichi Nokten''; ''
Wichi Vejoz''
***Mataguayo, Eastern
****''
Maka
Maka or MAKA may refer to:
* Funhouse (Makana "Maka" Akana), a Marvel Comics supervillain
* Maká, a Native American people in Paraguay
** Maká language, spoken by the Maká
* Maka (satrapy), a province of the Achaemenid Empire
* Maka, Biffech ...
''
****''
Nivakle''
Chaco linguistic area
Campbell and Grondona (2012) consider the languages to be part of a ''
Chaco'' linguistic area. Common Chaco areal features include
SVO word order SVO may refer to:
* Association football clubs in Germany:
** SVO Germaringen
** SV Oberachern
* Silver vanadium oxide battery (SVO battery)
* San Jose Chamber of Commerce, a chamber of commerce in San Jose, California, United States, known as th ...
and
active-stative verb
alignment
Alignment may refer to:
Archaeology
* Alignment (archaeology), a co-linear arrangement of features or structures with external landmarks
* Stone alignment, a linear arrangement of upright, parallel megalithic standing stones
Biology
* Struc ...
.
See also
*
Gran Chaco people
References
* 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.
Proposed language families
Chaco linguistic area
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