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The extinct Hibito–Cholón or Cholónan languages form a proposed language family that links two languages of Peru, Hibito and Cholón. This family was believed to be extinct but in 2021 a native speaker was rediscovered, she is Martha Pérez Valderrama, she is currently the only known speaker of this family (specifically from the Cholón). They may also be related to the extinct Culle language, and perhaps to the language of the Chachapoya, but the data for all of these languages is poor.

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Kechua, Leko, Mapudungun, Mochika, Kandoshi, Muniche, and Barbakoa language families due to contact.

Lexicon

Several basic Hibito and Cholon words appear to be related, though the data on both languages is poor. The following examples are given in the ad hoc orthography of the three sources we have on these languages:

gloss	tree	water	daughter	son
Cholón	mech / meš	cot / quõt / köta	ñu / -ñu	pul / -pul
Hibito	mixs / mitš	cachi / otšj	ñoo	pool

Comparative word list of Hibito and Cholon from Loukotka (1949):

Notes

• (Sp.) = Spanish loanword (excluded)

Sources used by Loukotka (1949) — Hibito

• Manuscript by Martínez Compañón from the 1700s
• Tessmann (1930)

Sources Loukotka (1949) — Cholon

• Mata (1748)
• Tessmann (1930)

French gloss (original)	English gloss (translated)	Hibito	Cholon	comparisons
animal	animal	(Sp.)	(Sp.)
arbre	tree	mixs	mees-ñgup
boire	drink	vvik	nig
ciel	sky	puxam	senta
cœur	heart	thuo-suik	aluñač
dieu	God	diosču	(Sp.)
douleur	pain	kalak	ysiam
eau	water	kači	kot	Tessmann: oč, köta
étoiles	stars	kuičas	ke-nak
femme	woman	etlek	yla	Tessmann: udú, hilá
feu	fire	ukče	vet	Tessmann: olmó, utmo
fille	daughter	noo	añu
fils	son	pool	apul
fleur	flower	čukčum	ñuñap
fleuve	river	sekllutkači	kot-ysokot
frère	brother	moskaá	azot	Katakao: aszat = homme
fruit	fruit	llagna	keniya
gai	happy	musugvem	augilubaktam
herbe	grass	kiak	pullo
homme	man	nuum	num	Tessmann: núm, lúno
lune	moon	kuiná	peel	Tessmann: winžö, pel
manger	eat	lopkem	amok
mer	sea	lapomkači	sokotlol
mère	mother	keek	appan
mort	dead	huank	mikol
mourir	die	kalgeskam	ñgoli-čo
oiseau	bird	kumkoči	zuksill
ondes	waves	omium	ypixsimam
père	father	kotk	appa
pleurer	cry	atzakkem	yo-yam
pluie	rain	laamčus	llisiak
poisson	fish	kazop	asua
rameau	branch	mixnul	pučup
régner	reign	kollam	časam
sœur	sister	moskaá	akiñiu
soleil	sun	ñim	musak	Tessmann: nim, mušápo
terre	earth	kaloč	lluspey
tronc	trunk	sangoč	sangoč
vent	wind	koktom	mam
viande	meat	amaá	čep

References

1. "Cholon | The Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America". ailla.utexas.org. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
2. "The Cholon Language Collection of Luis Miguel Rojas Berscia | The Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America". ailla.utexas.org. Retrieved 2024-02-09.
3. Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
4. Loukotka, Čestmír. 1949. Sur Quelques Langues Inconnues de l'Amerique du Sud. Lingua Posnaniensis I: 53-82.
5. ^ Tessmann, Günter. 1930. Die Indianer Nordost-Perus: grundlegende Forschungen für eine systematische Kulturkunde. Hamburg: Friederichsen, de Gruyter.
6. Mata, Fr. Pedro de la. 1748. Arte de la lengua Cholona. Trujillo. Manuscript held at the British Museum in London. (Republished in Inca (1923), vol. 1, pp. 690-750. Lima.)

• Alain Fabre, 2005, Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: CHOLÓN

• Hibito–Cholon languages
• Proposed language families
• Language families