| Chocoan | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Colombia andPanama |
| Linguistic classification | One of the world's primarylanguage families |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | choc1280 |
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TheChoco languages (alsoChocoan,Chocó,Chokó) are a small family ofIndigenous languages spread acrossColombia andPanama.
Choco consists of six known branches, all but two of which are extinct.
At least Anserma, Arma, and Caramanta areextinct.
The Emberá group consists of two languages mainly in Colombia with over 60,000 speakers that lie within a fairlymutually intelligibledialect continuum.Ethnologue divides this into six languages. Kaufman (1994) considers the termCholo to be vague and condescending. Noanamá has some 6,000 speakers on the Panama-Colombia border.
Internal classification by Jolkesky (2016):[1]
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with theGuahibo,Kamsa,Paez,Tukano,Witoto-Okaina,Yaruro,Chibchan, andBora-Muinane language families due to contact.[1]
Genetic links between Choco and Chibchan had been proposed by Lehmann (1920).[2] However, similarities are few, some of which may be related to the adoption of maize cultivation from neighbors.[1]: 324
Choco has been included in a number of hypothetical phylum relationships:
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for the Chocó languages.[4]
| gloss | Sambú | Chocó Pr. | Citara | Baudo | Waunana | Tadó | Saixa | Chamí | Ándagueda | Catio | Tukurá | N'Gvera |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| one | haba | abá | aba | aba | haba | aba | abbá | abba | abá | |||
| two | ome | ume | dáonomi | umé | homé | umé | ómay | tea | unmé | |||
| three | ompea | umpia | dáonatup | kimaris | hompé | umpea | ompayá | umbea | unpia | |||
| head | poro | poro | achiporo | púro | boró | tachi-púro | boró | bóro | buru | porú | ||
| eye | tau | tau | tabú | tau | dága | tau | tau | dáu | tow | dabu | tabú | tapü |
| tooth | kida | kida | kida | kidá | xidá | kidá | chida | chida | ||||
| man | amoxina | mukira | umakira | emokoida | mukira | mukína | mugira | mohuná | mukira | |||
| water | pañia | paniá | pania | pania | dó | pania | panía | banía | puneá | panea | pánia | |
| fire | tibua | tibuá | xemkavai | tupuk | tupu | tubechuá | tübü | |||||
| sun | pisia | pisiá | umantago | vesea | edau | vesea | áxonihino | umata | emwaiton | humandayo | ahumautu | |
| moon | edexo | édexo | hidexo | xedeko | xedego | edekoː | átoní | edexo | heydaho | xedeko | xedéko | hedeko |
| maize | pe | pe | paga | pedeu | pe | pe | bé | pe | ||||
| jaguar | imama | ibamá | ibamá | imama | kumá | pimamá | imama | imamá | imamá | |||
| arrow | enatruma | halomá | halomá | sia | chókiera | umatruma | sía | ukida | enentiera |
For reconstructions of Proto-Chocó and Proto-Emberá by Constenla and Margery (1991),[5] see the correspondingSpanish article.