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

Authors

  • Luis Miguel Rojas-Berscia School of Languages and Cultures – The University of Queensland, Australia Centre for Language Studies – Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, Netherlands http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0492-9429

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18441/ind.v37i1.155-188

Keywords:

Chachapuya, Proto-Kawapanan, language contact, Peru, pre-Inca period

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.

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Published

2020-06-30

Issue

Vol. 37 No. 1 (2020)

Section

Articles

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