Palta language

Palta
Palta
Native to	Ecuador
Region	Loja Province
Ethnicity	Palta people
Era	16th century
Language family	Chicham? Palta;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None

The Palta language is an extinct language of the Ecuadorian Amazon, formerly spoken by the Palta people.

Classification

Based on this, Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño (1936) classified it as a Jivaroan language. Kaufman (1994) states that there is "little resemblance",² but Adelaar (2004)³ 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.⁴

Vocabulary

It is attested by only a few words: yumé 'water', xeme 'maize', capal 'fire', let 'firewood'⁵ (Jiménez de la Espada, 1586), and some toponyms.

Bibliography

Jiménez de la Espada, Marcos, ed. (1965 [1586]): 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

"Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Jolkesky 2016) - Biblioteca Digital Curt Nimuendajú". www.etnolinguistica.org. Retrieved 2025-01-25.
Moseley, Christopher; Asher, Ronald E. (1994). Atlas of the world's languages. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-01925-5.
Adelaar, Willem F. H.; Muysken, Pieter (2004). The languages of the Andes. Cambridge language surveys. Cambridge, UK New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-511-48685-2.
Mason, John Alden (1950). "The languages of South American Indians". In Steward, Julian (ed.). Handbook of South American Indians (PDF). Vol. 6. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143. pp. 157–317.
Campbell, Lyle (2024-06-25), "Indigenous Languages of South America", The Indigenous Languages of the Americas (1 ed.), Oxford University PressNew York, pp. 182–279, doi:10.1093/oso/9780197673461.003.0004, ISBN 978-0-19-767346-1, retrieved 2025-06-08{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)

[Jolkesky-2016-1] "Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Jolkesky 2016) - Biblioteca Digital Curt Nimuendajú". www.etnolinguistica.org. Retrieved 2025-01-25.

[2] Moseley, Christopher; Asher, Ronald E. (1994). Atlas of the world's languages. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-01925-5.

[3] Adelaar, Willem F. H.; Muysken, Pieter (2004). The languages of the Andes. Cambridge language surveys. Cambridge, UK New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-511-48685-2.

[Mason-19502-4] Mason, John Alden (1950). "The languages of South American Indians". In Steward, Julian (ed.). Handbook of South American Indians (PDF). Vol. 6. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143. pp. 157–317.

[5] Campbell, Lyle (2024-06-25), "Indigenous Languages of South America", The Indigenous Languages of the Americas (1 ed.), Oxford University PressNew York, pp. 182–279, doi:10.1093/oso/9780197673461.003.0004, ISBN 978-0-19-767346-1, retrieved 2025-06-08{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)

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