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Pijao (Piajao, Pinao) 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.

Subdivisions

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

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.

Classification

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

The few words which resemble Carib are thought to be loans; toponyms in Pijao country are also Carib. Marshall & 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.

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

Vocabulary

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

Notes

1. 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.
2. Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.

References

• Marshall Durbin & Haydée Seijas (1973): "A Note on Panche, Pijao, Pantagora (Palenque), Colima and Muzo", International Journal of American Linguistics, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Jan., 1973), pp. 47–51.

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