| Pijao | |
| States: | Colombia |
| Region: | Tolima |
| Ethnicity: | Pijao people |
| Extinct: | 1950s |
| Familycolor: | American |
| Family: | unclassified (Maipurean?) |
| Iso3: | pij |
| Glotto: | pija1235 |
| Glottorefname: | Pijao |
Pijao (Piajao, Pinao) is an unclassified indigenous American language that was spoken in the villages of Ortega, Coyaima (Koyai, Tupe) and Natagaima in the Magdalena River Valley of Colombia until the 1950s.
Pijao subtribes reported by Rivet (1943, 1944) and cited in Mason (1950):[1]
Aype, Paloma, Ambeina, Amoya, Tumbo, Coyaima, Poina (Yaporoge), Mayto (Maito, Marto), Mola, Atayma (Otaima), Tuamo, Bulira, Ocaima, Behuni (Beuni, Biuni), Ombecho, Anaitoma, Totumo, Natagaima, Pana (Pamao), Guarro, Hamay, Zeraco, Lucira, and Tonuro.
A small vocabulary list was collected in 1943; only 30 Pijao words and expressions are known.
The few words which resemble Carib are thought to be loans; toponyms in Pijao country are also Carib. Marshall & Seijas (1973) did not detect significant connections between Pijao and other unclassified languages of the area: Colima, Muzo, Pantágora, and Panche, but these are even more poorly attested than Pijao.
Jolkesky (2016) also notes that there are lexical similarities with the Witoto-Okaina languages.[2]
amé tree
homéro bow
sumén to drink
čaguála canoe
kahírre dog
alamán crocodile
tínki tooth
tána water
nasés house
hoté star
nuhúgi woman
oréma man
yaguáde jaguar
núna moon
ñáma hand
golúpa cassava
lún eye
oléma ear
pegil foot
tápe stone
orái red
toléma snake
huíl sun
tenú tobacco
. John Alden Mason . 1950 . The languages of South America . Julian . Steward . Handbook of South American Indians . 6 . 157–317 . Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143 . Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office.