The Chachapuya Language and Proto-Kawapanan: Lexical Affinities and Hypothetical Contact Scenarios

Abstract

The study of onomastics in the south of the modern region of Amazonas in the northeast of Peru has shed light on the existence of a pre-Inca language conventionally named Chacha. Unfortunately, the almost absolute lack of documentary evidence for the existence of this language obscures research on it. This linguistic region, characterised by toponyms carrying -lap, -mal, -gat, -lun, and -wala endings, coincides with the core of expansion of the pre-Inca culture of Chachapoyas.
In this article I reanalyse the place names in the region. This study is based on comparative evidence involving Proto-Kawapanan, and Shawi and Shiwilu, its modern descendants from a traditional comparative perspective. I claim that most of the Chachapuya endings, as well as place names like Kuelap<*Kuyalape can be analysed as Kawapanan names. This suggests that either Chachapuya was related to modern Kawapanan languages, or that this was a so far understudied area of intense language contact.