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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, as well with the southern Barbacoan language Tsafiki (especially plant and animal names).

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.

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

1. ^ Adelaar, William F. H.; Muysken, Pieter C. (2004). The languages of the Andes. Cambridge Language Surveys. Cambridge University Press. pp. 156–161. ISBN 9781139451123.
2. Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
3. Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.

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• Indigenous languages of South America
• Esmeralda–Yaruroan languages
• Languages of Ecuador
• Language isolates of South America
• Extinct languages of South America
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