The Chibchan family was first formally recognized by
Max Uhle in an 1890 publication in the journal of the
International Congress of Americanists entitled
Verwandtschaften und Wanderungen der Tschibtscha ("Kinships/relationships and migrations of the Chibcha".
Loukotka (1968) Below is a full list of Chibchan language varieties listed by
Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties. Loukotka also included other language families, like
Barbacoan,
Kamëntšá (Camsá), and
Paezan, which are no longer accepted as Chibchan. ;Rama group •
Rama – language spoken around
Bluefields Lagoon and on the
Rama River, Nicaragua. •
Melchora – extinct language once spoken on the
San Juan Melchoras River, Nicaragua. (Unattested.) ;Guatuso group •
Guatuso – spoken on the
Frío River, Costa Rica, now perhaps extinct. •
Guetar /
Brusela – extinct language once spoken on the Grande River, Costa Rica. •
Suerre /
Camachire /
Chiuppa – extinct language once spoken on the
Tortuguero River, Costa Rica. (Benzoni 1581, p. 214, only five words.) •
Pocosi – extinct language once spoken on the
Matina River and around the modern city of
Puerto Limón, Costa Rica. (Unattested.) •
Voto – extinct language once spoken at the mouth of the
San Juan River, Costa Rica. (Unattested.) •
Quepo – extinct language once spoken in Costa Rica on the
Pacuare River. (W. Lehmann 1920, vol. 1, p. 238, only one single word.) •
Corobisi /
Corbesi /
Cueresa /
Rama de Rio Zapote – spoken by a few individuals in Costa Rica on the
Zapote River. (Alvarez in Conzemius 1930, pp. 96–99.) ;Talamanca group •
Terraba /
Depso /
Quequexque /
Brurán – extinct language once spoken in Costa Rica on the
Tenorio River. •
Tirub /
Rayado /
Tiribi – extinct language spoken once in Costa Rica on the
Virilla River. •
Bribri /
Lari – spoken on the
Coca River and
Tarire River, Costa Rica. •
Estrella – Spanish name of an extinct language, the original name of which is unknown, once spoken on the
Estrella River, Costa Rica. •
Cabecar – language spoken on the
Moy River, Costa Rica. •
Chiripó – language spoken in Costa Rica on the
Matina River and
Chirripó River. •
Viceyta /
Abiseta /
Cachi /
Orosi /
Tucurrique – extinct language once spoken on the
Tarire River, Costa Rica. •
Brunca /
Boruca /
Turucaca – extinct language of Costa Rica, spoken on the Grande River and in the
Boruca region. •
Coto /
Cocto – extinct language once spoken between the sources of the
Coto River and Grande River, Costa Rica. (Unattested.) ;Dorasque group •
Chumulu – extinct language once spoken in
El Potrero, Veraguas (Potrero de Vargas), Panama. •
Gualaca – extinct language once spoken on the
Chiriqui River, Panama. •
Changuena – once spoken in Panama, on the
Changuena River. ;Guaymi group •
Muoi – extinct language once spoken in the Miranda Valley of Panama. •
Move /
Valiente – now spoken on the
Guaymi River and in the
Veragua Peninsula. •
Norteño – dialect without an aboriginal name, spoken on the northern coast of Panama, now perhaps extinct. •
Penonomeño – once spoken in the village of
Penonomé. •
Murire /
Bucueta /
Boncota /
Bogota – spoken in the Serranía de
Tabasara by a few families. •
Sabanero /
Savaneric /
Valiente – extinct dialect without aboriginal name, once spoken on the plains south of the Serranía de
Tabasara. •
Pariza – extinct dialect spoken in the Conquest days on the
Veragua Peninsula. (G. Espinosa 1864, p. 496, only one single word.) ;Cuna group •
Coiba – extinct language once spoken on the
Chagres River, Panama. (W. Lehmann 1920, vol. I, pp. 112–122; A. Santo Tomas 1908, pp. 124–128, only five words.) •
Cuna /
Bayano /
Tule /
Mandingo /
San Blas /
Karibe-Kuna /
Yule – language spoken in eastern Panama, especially on the
Bayano River, in
San Blas and the small islands on the northern coast. •
Cueva /
Darien – extinct language Once spoken at the mouth of the
Atrato River, Colombia. •
Chochama – extinct language once spoken on the
Suegro River, Panama. (Unattested.) ;Antioquia group •
Guazuzú – once spoken in the Sierra de
San Jerónimo, department of Antioquia, Colombia. (Unattested.) •
Oromina /
Zeremoe – extinct language once spoken south of the
Gulf of Urabá, Antioquia, Colombia. (Unattested.) •
Catio – once spoken in the region of
Dabaiba, Colombia. (only a few words.) •
Hevejico – once spoken in the
Tonusco and
Ebéjico Valleys. (Unattested.) •
Abibe – once spoken in the Sierra de Abibe. (Unattested.) •
Buritaca – once spoken at the sources of the
Sucio River. (Unattested.) •
Caramanta – once spoken around the city of
Caramanta. •
Cartama – once spoken around the modern city of
Cartama. (Unattested.) •
Pequi – once spoken in the
Pequi region. (Unattested.) •
Arma – once spoken on the
Pueblanco River. (Unattested.) •
Pozo – once spoken on the
Pozo River and
Pacova River. (Cieza de Leon 1881, p. 26, only one single word.) •
Nutabé – once spoken in the San Andrés Valley. •
Tahami – once spoken on the
Magdalena River and
Tora River. (Unattested.) •
Yamesi – once spoken at the mouth of the
Nechi River and on the
Porce River. (Simon 1882–1892, vol. 5, p. 80, only one single word.) •
Avurrá – once spoken in the
Aburrá Valley. (Piedrahita (Fernandez de Piedrahita) 1688, cap. 2, f. 9, only one single word.) •
Guamoco – once spoken around the modern city of
Zaragoza, Antioquia. (Unattested.) •
Anserma /
Humbra /
Umbra – once spoken on the
Cauca River around the city of
Anserma, Caldas. (J. Robledo 1865, pp. 389 and 392, only a few words.) •
Amachi – once spoken in the San Bartolomé Valley. (Unattested.) ;Chibcha group •
Chibcha /
Muisca /
Mosca – extinct language once spoken on the upper plateau of Bogotá and
Tunja, department of Cundinamarca, Colombia. •
Duit dialect – once spoken on the
Tunja River and
Tundama River. •
Tunebo /
Tame – language now spoken by many tribes living in the area east of the Chibcha tribe. Dialects: •
Tegría – spoken on the
Tegría River, department of Boyaca. (Rochereau 1926–1927, 1946–1950, 1959.) •
Pedraza – spoken on the
Pedraza River. •
Boncota – spoken on the
Boncota River. •
Manare – spoken on the
Manare River. •
Sinsiga /
Chita – spoken in the village of
Chita, Boyacá and on the
Chisca River. •
Uncasica – spoken in the
Sierra Librada. •
Morcote – spoken on the
Tocaría River and in the village of
Morcote. (Unattested.) •
Chitarero – extinct language once spoken around the modern city of
Pamplona, department of Santander. (Unattested.) •
Lache – extinct language once spoken on the
Chicamocha River and in the Sierra de
Chita, department of Boyacá. (Unattested.) ;Motilon group •
Dobocubí /
Motilon – spoken on the
Tarra River and around the old mission of
Atacarayo, department of Norte de Santander, Colombia. •
Bartra /
Cunaguasáya – spoken by a tribe on the
Oro River,
Rincón River, and Lora River in the
Norte de Santander region. •
Mape – spoken by a little known tribe on the
Catatumbo River and
Agua Blanca River in the
Norte de Santander region and in the state of Zulia, Venezuela. ;Arhuaco (Arwako) group •
Tairona /
Teyuna – extinct language once spoken on the
Frio River and on the Caribbean coast,
department of Magdalena, Colombia, now a secret language of the priests in the Cagaba tribe. •
Zyuimakane – extinct language once spoken on the
Volador River in the same region. (Unattested.) •
Bungá – extinct language once spoken on the Santa Clara River. (Unattested.) •
Ulabangui – once spoken on the
Negro River, in the Santa Clara River region. (Unattested.) •
Cashingui – once spoken on the
Palomino River. (Unattested.) •
Masinga – once spoken on the Bonda River, in the
Palomino River region. (Unattested.) •
Bonda /
Matuna – once spoken on the Bonda River and Santa María River. (Holmer 1953a, p. 313, only one single word; Preuss 1927, only a few toponyms.) •
Cágaba /
Köggaba /
Kaugia /
Koghi – language spoken in the
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in the villages of San Andrés, San Miguel, San José, Santa Rosa, and Pueblo Viejo. •
Guamaca /
Nábela /
Sanha /
Arsario – spoken in the
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region in the villages of El Rosario,
Potrerito, and
Marocaso. •
Bintucua /
Ijca /
Ika /
Iku /
Machaca /
Vintukva – spoken in the
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region in the village of San Sebastián (near
Atanquez). •
Atanque /
Campanaque /
Busintana /
Buntigwa /
Kallwama – spoken in the
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, in the village of
Atanquez. •
Upar /
Eurpari /
Giriguana – extinct language once spoken on the
César River. (Unattested.) •
Cariachil – once spoken between the
Molino River and
Fonseca River. (Unattested.) •
Ocanopán /
Itoto – once spoken around
Cerro Pintado. (Unattested.) ;Paya group •
Paya /
Poyuai /
Seco – language spoken on the
Guayape River and between the
Patuca River and
Sico River, Honduras.
Constenla The Costa Rican linguist
Adolfo Constenla Umaña proposes a
typology of Chibchan languages in four branches. From north to south, •
Chibchan • A • Waimí (Guaymi) •
Guaymí (Ngäbere, Movere) – 170,000 speakers, vulnerable in
Panama, endangered in
Costa Rica •
Buglere (Bokotá) – 18,000 speakers, endangered •
Borũca (Brunca) •
Talamanca •
Bribri (Talamanca), 7,000 speakers – vulnerable in
Costa Rica, endangered in
Panama •
Cabécar (Talamanca) – 8,800 speakers, vulnerable •
Teribe (Norteño) – 3,300 speakers, endangered • B •
Pech (Paya) – 990 speakers, endangered •
Dorasque •
Votic •
Huetar (Güetar) •
Rama – 740 speakers, moribund •
Maléku (Guatuso) – 750 speakers, endangered •
Corobicí – northwestern Costa Rica •
Voto • Guna–Colombian •
Guna (Dulegaya) – 60,600 speakers, vulnerable in
Panama, endangered in
Colombia • Chibcha–Motilon •
Barí (Motilón) – 5,000 speakers, vulnerable • Chibcha–Tunebo •
Muisca •
Duit •
U'wa (Tunebo) – 2,550 speakers, endangered •
Guane – Colombia • Arwako–Chimila •
Chimila – 350 speakers, endangered • Arwako •
Wiwa (Malayo, Guamaca) – 1,850 speakers, endangered •
Kankuamo •
Arhuaco (Ikʉ) – 8,000 speakers, vulnerable •
Kogi (
Cogui) – 9,910 speakers, vulnerable Constenla initially classified the Huetar language as belonging to the Talamanca branch, however, in his last classification from 2008, he included it as a “probable affiliation” among the votic languages. Loukotka (1968), Quesada (1996) and Jolkesky (2016) have classified the Huetar as
Votic as well. The extinct languages of
Antioquia,
Old Catío and
Nutabe have been shown to be Chibchan (Adelaar & Muysken, 2004:49). The
language of the Tairona is unattested, apart from a single word, but may well be one of the Arwako languages still spoken in the Santa Marta range. It is said to be used by the
Kogi people as a shamanistic ritual language. The
Zenú Sinú language of northern Colombia is also sometimes included, as are the
Malibu languages, though without any factual basis. Zenú is also sometimes linked with the Chocoan languages.
Adolfo Constenla Umaña argues that
Cueva, the extinct dominant language of Pre-Columbian Panama long assumed to be Chibchan based on a misinterpreted Guna vocabulary, was actually
Chocoan, but there is little evidence. The
Cofán language (Kofán, Kofane, A'ingae) of Ecuador and Colombia has been erroneously included in Chibchan due to borrowed vocabulary. On the basis of shared grammatical innovations, Pache (2023) argues that
Pech is most closely related to the Arhuacic languages of northern Colombia, forming a Pech-Arhuacic subgroup.
Jolkesky (2016) Internal classification by Jolkesky (2016): ( = extinct) •
Chibcha •
Pech •
Votic •
Maleku •
Rama •
Wetar •
Isthmus • Boruka-Talamanca •
Boruka • Talamanca •
Teribe • Bribri-Kabekar •
Bribri •
Kabekar • Doraske-Changena •
Changena •
Doraske • Guaymi •
Buglere •
Ngäbe •
Kuna •
Kuna Paya-Pukuro •
Kuna San Blas •
Magdalena •
Barí •
Chimila •
Nutabe • ''
U'wa'' • Muisca •
Guane •
Muisca • Sierra de Santa Marta •
Kaggaba •
Tairona • Wiwa-Ika •
Ika •
Kankuamo •
Wiwa ==Proto-language== Pache (2018) is the most recent reconstruction of Proto-Chibchan. Below are Proto-Chibchan vowels according to Pache (2018). Proto-Chibchan horticultural vocabulary (Constenla 2012): • *dihke 'to sow' • *te1 'cultivated clearing' • *ike 'manioc' • *tuʔ 'tuber, yam' (
Dioscorea spp.;
Xanthosoma sagittifolium) • *apì 'pumpkin, squash' • *e, *ebe 'maize' • *du, *dua1 'tobacco' • *tã1 'rattles from gourd' • *toka 'gourd cup'
Pache (2018) Proto-Chibchan reconstructions by Pache (2018): == Vocabulary == == References ==