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Takanan
Tacanan
Geographic distribution	Bolivia
Linguistic classification	Pano–Tacanan? Takanan
Language codes
Glottolog	taca1255
Takanan languages (light green) and Panoan languages (dark green). Spots indicate documented locations.

Tacanan is a family of languages spoken in Bolivia, with Ese’ejja also spoken in Peru. It may be related to the Panoan languages. Many of the languages are endangered.

Family division

• Tacanan
  • Ese Ejja (a.k.a. Ese’eha, Tiatinagua, Chama, Huarayo, Guacanawa, Chuncho, Eseʼexa, Tatinawa, Ese exa)
  • Araona–Tacana
    • Araona (a.k.a. Carina, Cavina)
    • Cavineña–Tacana
      • Cavineña (a.k.a. Kavinenya)
      • Tacana
        • Tacana (a.k.a. Tupamasa, Takana)
        • Reyesano (a.k.a. San Borjano, Maropa)
        • Toromono (†?)

Toromono may be extinct. Another possibly extinct Tacanan language is Mabenaro; Arasa has been classified as Tacanan, but appears to have more in common with Panoan.

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Kayuvava, Tupi, and Arawak language families due to contact.

Varieties

Below is a full list of Tacanan language varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties.

• Tacana - language with many relationships with the Arawak and Pano languages, spoken on the Beni River, Tuichi River, and Tequeje River, territory of Colonia, Bolivia; now spoken by only a few families. Dialects are:
  • Tumupasa / Maracáni - spoken on the Uchipiamona River in the same region.
  • Isiama / Ydiama - spoken on the Unduma River and around Ydiama.

• Araona - spoken on the Madre de Dios River and Manuripi River in Colonia, Bolivia
• Capechene / Capaheni - unknown language spoken on the Xapuri River and Rosiano River, Acre territory, Brazil. (Unattested.)
• Sapiboca - extinct language once spoken at the old mission of Reyes, Beni province, Bolivia.
• Chirigua / Shiribá - extinct language once spoken at the old mission of Santa Buenaventura, Beni. (Unattested.)
• Guarizo - extinct language once spoken at the old missions of Reyes and San Antonio de Isiama.
• Maropa - spoken in the vicinity of Lake Rogoaguado, Beni, now probably extinct.
• Guacanahua / Chama / Ese'ejja - spoken by a small tribe on the Madidi River and Undumo River, La Paz province, Bolivia.
• Mabenaro - spoken on the Manuripi River.
• Caviña / Cavineña - once spoken on the Cavinas River, Madidi River, and Beni River, now probably extinct.
• Toromona - once spoken between the Madidi River, Beni River, and Madre de Dios River, now perhaps extinct.
• Arasa - language spoken by the greater part of the Arazaire tribe (of Pano stock) on the Marcopata River and Arasa River.
• Tiatinagua / Mohino / Chuncho / Huarayo / Baguaja / Tambopata-Guarayo / Echoja - spoken by a tribe on the Peru-Bolivia border, on the Tambopata River.

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for the Tacanan languages.

Sample vocabulary of four Tacanan languages, along with Proto-Panoan for comparison, from Nikulin (2019):

gloss	Ese Ejja	Araona	Cavineña	Tacana	Proto-Panoan
liver	e-kakʷa	tákʷa	e-takʷa	e-takʷa	*takʷa
tongue	ej-ana	e-ána	j-ana	j-ana	*hana
blood		ami	ami	ami	*himi
you (sg.)	mi-a	mi	mi-	mi	*mi
hand	e-me	e-me	e-me-tuku	e-me	*mɨ-
earth	meʃi	mezizo	metʃi ‘soil’	med’i	*mai
meat	e-jami	e-ami	e-rami	j-ami ‘muscle’	*rami
stone		mahana	makana		*maka
bone	e-sá	e-tsoa	e-tsau	e-tsau	*ʂao
(finger)nail	e-me-kiʃe	Ø-mé-tezi		e-me-tid’i	*mɨ̃-tsis
fat	e-sei	e-tsei	e-tseri	e-tsei	*ʂɨi
tooth	e-sé	e-tse	e-tse	e-tse	*ʂɨta

Verbal morphology

Associated motion

Tacanan languages, in particular Cavineña and Ese Ejja, have among the richest associated motion systems in the world's languages.

Further reading

• Girard, Victor (1971). Proto-Takanan Phonology (University of California Publications in Linguistics, 70.) Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Notes

1. Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
2. ^ Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
3. Nikulin, Andrey V. The classification of the languages of the South American Lowlands: State-of-the-art and challenges / Классификация языков востока Южной Америки. Illič-Svityč (Nostratic) Seminar / Ностратический семинар, October 17, 2019.
4. Guillaume, Antoine. 2016. Associated motion in South America: Typological and areal perspectives. Linguistic Typology 20(1). 81–177

References

• Adelaar, Willem F. H.; & Muysken, Pieter C. (2004). The languages of the Andes. Cambridge language surveys. Cambridge University Press.
• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Kaufman, Terrence. (1990). Language history in South America: What we know and how to know more. In D. L. Payne (Ed.), Amazonian linguistics: Studies in lowland South American languages (pp. 13–67). Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-70414-3.
• Kaufman, Terrence. (1994). The native languages of South America. In C. Mosley & R. E. Asher (Eds.), Atlas of the world's languages (pp. 46–76). London: Routledge.

External links

• Proel: Familia Tacanana
• Tacana language dictionary online from IDS (select simple or advanced browsing)

• Tacanan languages
• Pano-Tacanan languages
• Indigenous languages of South America (Central)
• Indigenous languages of Western Amazonia
• Languages of Bolivia
• Languages of Brazil
• Languages of Peru
• Mamoré–Guaporé linguistic area