Mochica language
Encyclopedia
Mochica is a Chimuan language formerly spoken along the northwest coast of Peru
and in an inland village. First documented in 1607, the language was widely spoken in the area during the 17th and early 18th century. By the end of the 19th century the language was dying out and spoken only by a few people in the villages around Chiclayo
. It died out as a spoken language around 1920, but certain words and phrases continued to be used up until the 1960s.
Mochica is typologically different from the other main languages on
the west coast of South America
(Quechua
, Aymara
, and Mapudungun
) and contains rare features. These include
Mochica appears to be a language isolate
with no clear links to any other American Indian language.
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....
and in an inland village. First documented in 1607, the language was widely spoken in the area during the 17th and early 18th century. By the end of the 19th century the language was dying out and spoken only by a few people in the villages around Chiclayo
Chiclayo
Chiclayo is the capital city of the Lambayeque region in northern Peru. It is located 13 kilometers inland from the Pacific coast and 770 kilometers from the nation's capital, Lima...
. It died out as a spoken language around 1920, but certain words and phrases continued to be used up until the 1960s.
Mochica is typologically different from the other main languages on
the west coast of South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
(Quechua
Quechua languages
Quechua is a Native South American language family and dialect cluster spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably...
, Aymara
Aymara language
Aymara is an Aymaran language spoken by the Aymara people of the Andes. It is one of only a handful of Native American languages with over three million speakers. Aymara, along with Quechua and Spanish, is an official language of Peru and Bolivia...
, and Mapudungun
Mapudungun
The Mapuche language, Mapudungun is a language isolate spoken in south-central Chile and west central Argentina by the Mapuche people. It is also spelled Mapuzugun and sometimes called Mapudungu or Araucanian...
) and contains rare features. These include
- a case system where cases are built on each other in a linear sequence: the ablative suffix is added to the locative which itself is added to an oblique case form
- all nouns have two stems, possessed and non-possessed
- an agentive case suffix mainly used for the agent in passive clauses
- a verbal system where all finite forms are formed with the copula.
Mochica appears to be a language isolate
Language isolate
A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship with other languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. They are in effect language families consisting of a single...
with no clear links to any other American Indian language.