Culle also known as Ilinga (Linga), is a poorly attested extinct language of northern Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

. It is the original language of the regions of La Libertad

La Libertad Region

La Libertad is a region in northwestern Peru. Formerly it was known as the 'Department of La Libertad" , a political division that generally corresponds to a state in the United States of America...

, Cajabamba

Cajabamba Province

Cajabamba Province is a province of the Cajamarca Region in Peru. The capital of the province is the city of Cajabamba.- Political division :The province measures and is divided into four districts:...

, and Pallasca

Pallasca Province

The Pallasca Province is one of 20 provinces of the Ancash Region in Peru.-Political division:Pallasca is divided into eleven districts, which are:...

. It is known through various word lists collected while the language was still spoken and through vocabulary loaned into the Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

spoken in the region.

Vocabulary

What little is known of the Culle language consists mostly of vocabulary. A sample list of words is given by Loutkotka; some of these are presented here:

• ahhi – woman
• čallua – fish
• ču – head
• čukuáll – heart
• koñ, goñ – water
• kumú – drink
• mú – fire
• múñ – moon
• urú – tree
• usú – man

Classification

Because it is poorly attested, it has not been possible to definitively classify Culle.