The Chibchan languages (also Chíbchan, Chibchano) make up a language family indigenous to Colombia and Central America. The name is derived from the name of an extinct language called Chibcha or Muisca cubun, once spoken by the people who lived in the city of Bogotá at the time of the European invasion. However, genetic and linguistic data now indicate that the original heart of Chibchan languages and Chibchan-speaking peoples may not have been in Colombia at all, but in the area of the Costa Rica-Panama border, where one finds the greatest variety of Chibchan languages. Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... Map of Central America Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. ... An extinct language (also called a dead language) is a language which no longer has any native speakers. ... The Zipa used to cover his body in gold and, from his raft, he offered treasures to the Guatavita godess in the middle of the sacred lake. ... Nickname: Athens of Latin America Motto: Bogotá, 2600 metros más cerca de las estrellas Bogotá, 2600 meters closer to the stars Municipalities of Bogotá Country Colombia Department Bogotá, D.C.* Foundation August 6, 1538  - Mayor Luís Eduardo Garzón, PDA Area    - City 1,587 km²  (Expression error: Unrecognised... World map exhibiting the location of Europe. ...

The Costa Rican linguist Adolfo Constenla Umaña (1981, 1991, 1995) has created a detailed classification of Chibchan languages. Most of these fall into the Southern Chibchan subgroupings of Votic, Isthmic, and Magdalenic. The following list is a slight modification of Constenla's groupings.

Northern Group

• Pech (Paya, Taya, Tawka, Seco) north-central Honduras, endangered

Votic Subgroup (named for the extinct Votos of northern Costa Rica)

• Rama southeastern Nicaragua, extinct or nearly so
• Voto Costa Rica, extinct
• Maleku (Guatuso), north-central Costa Rica, endangered
• Corobicí northwestern Costa Rica, extinct

Isthmic Subgroup

• Hüetar (Güetar), Costa Rica, extinct
• Bribrí (Talamanca), Costa Rica and Panama
• Cabécar (Talamanca), Costa Rica
• Boruca (Brunca, Brunka), Costa Rica, nearly extinct
• Chánguena Costa Rica & Panama, extinct
• Teribe (Térraba, Tiribi, Teribe, Norteño, Quequexque, Naso), Panama and Costa Rica
• Movere (Move), central Panama
• Ngabere (Western - Guaymí, Valiente, Chiriquí, Ngábere; Eastern - Tolé, Chiriquí, Ngobere, Ngäbere'), Costa Rica and Panama
• Buglere (Bokota, Bogotá, Bofota, Bobota, Bukueta, Buglé, Nortenyo, Murire, Sabanero, Veraguas Sabanero), Panama
• Dorasque Panama, endangered
• Kuna (Cuna, San Blás Kuna, Paya-Pucuro Kuna, Caiman Nuevo, Dulegaya), Panama and Colombia

Magdalenic Subgroup The Boruca language (also known as Bronka or Bronca) is the native language of the Boruca people of Costa Rica. ... An endangered language is a language with so few surviving speakers that it is in danger of falling out of use. ... Dulegaya (Kuna Language) The Kuna Language belongs to the Chibchan linguistic family. ...

• Chibcha (Muisca, Mosca) Colombia, extinct
• Tunebo (U'wa) Colombia
• Damana (Wiwa, Guamaca, Guamaka, Malayo, Arsario, Marocacero, Marocasero, Maracaserro, Sancá, Sanja, Sanka, Huihua) Colombia
• Kankuamo (Atanquez, Atanques) Colombia, extinct
• Ijca (Arhuaco, Aruaco, Bintuk, Bíntukua, Bintucua, Ica, Ijka, Ika, Ike, Bíntucua, Bintuk, Bíntukua, Pebu) Colombia
• Kogui (Coghui, Cagaba, Cogui, Kogi, Kaggaba, Kagaba) Colombia

Southeastern Group An extinct language of Colombia Alternate names: Muisca, Mosca Classification: Chibchan, Chibchan Proper Language use: The Chibcha people are still located near the towns of Tocancipa, Cota, Gachancipa and Tenjo. ... The Zipa used to cover his body in gold and, from his raft, he offered treasures to the Guatavita godess in the middle of the sacred lake. ... The Uwa people (also known as the Tunebo people) are an indigenous people living in the cloudforests of northeast Colombia. ...

• Barí (Motilón, Motilone, Dobocubi), Colombia and Venezuela
• Chimila (Ette taara, Caca Weranos, Shimizya), Colombia

Possibly related Barí is a Chibchan language spoken in an area partly in Colombia and partly in Venezuela by the Motilones. ...

• Cueva Panama, extinct
• Zenú (Sinú), northern Colombia
• Cofán (Kofán, Kofane, A'i), Ecuador and Colombia
• Yanomam Venezuela

Constenla argues that Cueva, the extinct dominant language of pre-Colombian Panama, was Chocoan, not Chibchan, but there is little evidence to support its classification either way. Constenla also disagrees with Greenberg's (1987) classification of Yanomam as Chibchan. The Cueva were an indigenous people that lived in the Darién region of eastern Panamá. They were completely exterminated between 1510 and 1535 due to Spanish colonization. ... The Cofán language (also Kofan, Kofan, Kofane; autonym: Aingae) is a language of the Chibchan family spoken by the Cofán people, an indigenous group native to Napo Province northeast Ecuador and southern Colombia, between the Guamués River (a tributary of the Putumayo River) and the Aguaric... Yanomaman (also Yanomam, Yanomáman, Yamomámi, Yanomamana, Shamatari, Shirianan) is small language family of northwestern Brazil (Roraima, Amazonas) and southern Venezuela. ...

Cofán has been included in Chibchan due to borrowed vocabulary. The Cofán language (also Kofan, Kofan, Kofane; autonym: Aingae) is a language of the Chibchan family spoken by the Cofán people, an indigenous group native to Napo Province northeast Ecuador and southern Colombia, between the Guamués River (a tributary of the Putumayo River) and the Aguaric...

Bogotá speakers assert that their language is different from Buglere and wish to be seen as a separate people (meeting of the Coordinadora Nacional de Pueblos Indigenas de Panama, 2003).

A family called Macro-Chibchan is also hypothesized, which would contain the Misumalpan languages, Lenca languages, Tarascan isolate, Xinca language, Cuitlatec language, and Yanoama languages. Joseph Greenberg groups Chibchan together with the Paezan languages in what he terms the Chibchan-Paezan subfamily of Amerind. Dennis Holt (1986) has also provided evidence for possible distant relationships of Chibchan with the Uto-Aztecan and Pano-Takanan language families. However, many linguists regard the concept of "Macro-Chibchan" (let alone higher-level groupings) as overly hypothetical and therefore of limited value. The most significant neighboring linguistic groups, with which there are important relationships, are Misumalpan languages (to the north) and Choco languages (to the south). None of these "macro"-groups have gained wide acceptance. The Misumalpan languages are a small family of Native American languages spoken on the east coast of Nicaragua and nearby areas. ... The Purhépecha or Tarascan language is a language isolate spoken by more than 100,000 Purhépecha people in the highlands of Michoacan, Mexico. ... The Xinca language is a Mesoamerican language spoken by the indigenous Xinca people from communities in the southern portion of Guatemala, near its border with El Salvador and in the mountainous region to the north. ... Yanomaman (also Yanomam, Yanomáman, Yamomámi, Yanomamana, Shamatari, Shirianan) is small language family of northwestern Brazil (Roraima, Amazonas) and southern Venezuela. ... Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28, 1915–May 7, 2001) was a prominent and controversial linguist, known for his work in both language classification and typology. ... Paezan (also Páesan, Paezano) is a family of languages spoken in Colombia and Ecuador. ... In addition to its use by social scientists to refer (broadly) to the various indigenous languages of The Americas, the term Amerind languages may controversially refer to one of the three families in Joseph H. Greenbergs classification of all Native American languages—the other two being Na-Dene... Pre-contact distribution of Northern Uto-Aztecan languages (note: this map does not show the distribution in Mexico) The Uto-Aztecan (also Uto-Aztekan) is a Native American language family. ... Pano-Tacanan (also Pano-Takana, Pano-Takánan, Pano-Tacana, Páno-Takána) is a family of languages spoken in Peru, western Brazil, Bolivia and northern Paraguay. ... The Misumalpan languages are a small family of Native American languages spoken on the east coast of Nicaragua and nearby areas. ... The Choco languages are a small family of Native American languages spread across Colombia and Panama. ...

Most of these indigenous languages are severely endangered, and all of them require greater study and documentation.

Duality was a central theme within the Chibchan world, and this idea greatly affected Chibchan women.

Bibliography

• Constenla Umaña, A. (1981). Comparative Chibchan Phonology. (Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia).
• Constenla Umaña, Adolfo. (1991). Las lenguas del Área Intermedia: Introducción a su estudio areal. Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica, San José.
• Constenla Umaña, Adolfo. (1995). Sobre el estudio diacrónico de las lenguas chibchenses y su contribución al conocimiento del pasado de sus hablantes. Boletín del Museo del Oro 38-39: 13-56.
• Greenberg, Joseph H. (1987). Language in the Americas. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
• Holt, Dennis (1986). The Development of the Paya Sound-System. (Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Linguistics, University of California, Los Angeles).

• A journal of Chibchan linguistics Estudios de Lingüistica Chibcha is published by the Universidad de Costa Rica.

External Resources

• Ethnologue: Chibchan Family
• COMPARATIVE CHIBCHAN PHONOLOGY Dissertation
• Encyclopaedia Britannica, Cagaba - full access article
• Macro-Chibchan