Esmeralda, or Esmeraldeño (also called Takame or Atacame), is an extinct language isolate formerly spoken in the coastal region of Ecuador, specifically in the western part of Esmeraldas Province. The only existing data for Atacame was collected by J.M. Pallares in 1877.
Classification
It has been proposed that the language is connected to the still-spoken Yaruro language of Venezuela. It also has some lexical similarities with the extinct Yurumanguí language,[1] as well with the southern Barbacoan language Tsafiki (especially plant and animal names).[1][2]: 457–458
Vocabulary
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.[3]
gloss Esmeralda hand di foot taha man ilóm water uivi star muʔxabla earth dula dog kine jaguar mutokine snake piama house kiama boat diala
Further reading
- Seler, Eduard (1902). "Die Sprache der Indianer von Esmeraldas" [The language of the Indians of Esmeraldas]. Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur Amerikanischen Sprach- und Alterthumskunde [Collected treatises on American linguistics and archaeology] (in German). Vol. 1. Berlin: A. Asher & Company. pp. 49–64 – via Google Books.
References
Wiktionary has a word list at Appendix:Esmeralda word list
- ^ a b Adelaar, William F. H.; Muysken, Pieter C. (2004). The languages of the Andes. Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge University Press. pp. 156–161. ISBN 9781139451123.
- ^ Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
- ^ Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
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This page was last edited on 26 January 2022, at 21:32