| Čestmír Loukotka | |
| Birth Date: | 12 November 1895 |
| Death Date: | 13 April 1966 |
| Nationality: | Czechoslovak |
| Occupation: | Linguist |
| Children: | Jarmila Loukotková |
| Influences: | Paul Rivet |
| Notable Works: | Classification of South American Indian languages (1968) |
Čestmír Loukotka (12 November 1895 - 13 April 1966) was a Czechoslovak linguist and ethnologist.[1] His daughter was Jarmila Loukotková.[2]
Loukotka proposed a classification for the languages of South America based on several previous works.[3] This classification contained many unpublished materials and therefore greatly improved upon previous classifications. He divided the languages of South America and the Caribbean into 77 different families, based upon similarities of vocabulary and available lists. His classification of 1968 is the most influential and was based upon two previous schemes (1935, 1944), which were similar to those proposed by Paul Rivet (whom he was a student of[4]), although the number of families was increased to 94 and 114.[5]