Pijao language (original) (raw)

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Extinct language of Colombia

Pijao
Pinao
Native to Colombia
Region Tolima
Ethnicity Pijao people
Extinct 1950s
Language family unclassified(Cariban?)
Language codes
ISO 639-3 pij
Glottolog pija1235
Map of the Pijao people and language

Pijao (Piajao, originally Pinao[1]) is an unclassified indigenous American language that was spoken in the villages of Ortega, Coyaima (Koyai, Tupe) and Natagaima in the Magdalena River Valley of Colombia until the 1950s, by the Pijao and Panche people.[2]

Pijao subtribes reported by Rivet (1943, 1944) and cited in Mason (1950):[3]

Aype, Paloma, Ambeina, Amoya, Tumbo, Coyaima, Poina (Yaporoge), Mayto (Maito, Marto), Mola, Atayma (Otaima), Tuamo, Bulira, Ocaima, Behuni (Beuni, Biuni), Ombecho, Anaitoma, Totumo, Natagaima, Pana (Pamao), Guarro, Hamay, Zeraco, Lucira, and Tonuro.

A small vocabulary list was collected in 1943; only 30 Pijao words and expressions are known.[_citation needed_]

The few words which resemble Carib are thought to be loans; toponyms in Pijao country are also Carib. Durbin & Seijas (1973) did not detect significant connections between Pijao and other unclassified languages of the area: Colima, Muzo, Pantágora, and Panche, but these are even more poorly attested than Pijao.[4]

Jolkesky (2016) also notes that there are lexical similarities with the Witoto-Okaina languages.[5]

amé tree

homéro bow

sumén to drink

čaguála canoe

kahírre dog

alamán crocodile

tínki tooth

tána water

nasés house

hoté star

nuhúgi woman

oréma man

yaguáde jaguar

núna moon

ñáma hand

golúpa cassava

lún eye

oléma ear

pegil foot

tápe stone

orái red

toléma snake

huíl sun

tenú tobacco

  1. ^ Zwisler, Joshua James (2018). "The Pijao of Natagaima: Post-Linguicide Indigenous Identity and Language" (PDF). Cadernos de Etnolingüística. 6 (1): 51–80.
  2. ^ Rivet, Paul (1943). "La influencia karib en Colombia". RINE. 1 (1): 55–93, 283–295.
  3. ^ Mason, John Alden (1950). "The languages of South America". In Steward, Julian (ed.). Handbook of South American Indians. Vol. 6. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143. pp. 157–317.
  4. ^ Durbin & Seijas 1973.
  5. ^ Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.