| Palta | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Ecuador |
| Region | Amazonia |
| Ethnicity | Palta people |
| Extinct | (colonial era) |
| Language family | unclassified |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Linguist List | jiv-pal |
| Glottolog | None |
The extinct Palta language of the Ecuadorian Amazon is attested by only a few words: yumé 'water', xeme 'maize', capal 'fire', let 'wood' (Jiménez de la Espada, 1586), and some toponyms. Based on this, Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño (1936) classified it as a Jivaroan language. Kaufman (1994) states that there is "little resemblance", but Adelaar (2004) finds the connection reasonable. In addition to these four words are toponyms, which commonly end in -anga, -numa, -namá. The latter two suggest the Jivaroan locative case suffix -num ~ -nam, and Torero (1993) notes that the last resembles Aguaruna (Jivaroan) namák(a) 'river' as well.
Mason (1950) also lists Malacata as an alternate name for Palta.
Bibliography
- Jiménez de la Espada, Marcos, ed. (1965 ): Relaciones geográficas de Indias: Perú, 3 vols. Biblioteca de Autores Españoles 183–5. Madrid: Atlas.
- Jijón y Caamaño, Jacinto (1936–8): Sebastián de Benalcázar, vol. 1 (1936) Quito: Imprenta del Clero; vol. 2 (1938) Quito: Editorial Ecuatoriana.
- Jijón y Caamaño, Jacinto (1940–5): El Ecuador interandino y occidental antes de la conquista castellana, vol. 1 (1940), vol. 2 (1941), vol. 3 (1943), vol. 4 (1945). Quito: Editorial Ecuatoriana (1998 edition, Quito: Abya-Yala).
References
- 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.
 | This article related to the Indigenous languages of the Americas is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |