| Huarpean | |
| Also Known As: | Warpean |
| Region: | Cuyo Province, Argentina |
| Ethnicity: | Huarpe people |
| Familycolor: | American |
| Fam1: | Macro-Warpean ? Macro-Jibaro ? |
| Child1: | Millcayac |
| Child2: | Allentiac |
| Child3: | Puntano |
| Glotto: | huar1251 |
| Glottorefname: | Huarpean |
| Map: | Patagonian lang.png |
Huarpe (Warpe) was a small language family of central Argentina (historic Cuyo Province) that consisted of two closely related languages. They are traditionally considered dialects, and include Allentiac (Alyentiyak, Huarpe) and Millcayac (Milykayak). A third, Puntano of San Luis, was not documented before the languages became extinct.
Kaufman (1994) tentatively linked Huarpe to the Mura-Matanawi languages in a family he called Macro-Warpean. However, he noted that "no systematic study" had been made, so that it is best to consider them independent families. Swadesh and Suárez both connected Huarpe to Macro-Jibaro, a possibility that has yet to be investigated.
Varieties classified by Loukotka (1968) as part of the Huarpe language cluster (all unattested unless noted otherwise, i.e. for Chiquiyama and Comechingon):[1]
Varieties of the Huarpe-Comechingon linguistic group cited from Canals Frau (1944) by Mason (1950):[2]
Pericot y Garcia (1936) lists Zoquillam, Tunuyam, Chiquillan, Morcoyam, Diamantino (Oyco), Mentuayn, Chom, Titiyam, Otoyam, Ultuyam, and Cucyam.[2]
The two languages had apparently similar sound systems, and were not dissimilar from Spanish, at least from the records we have. Barros (2007) reconstructs the consonants as follows:
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Plosive | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Affricate | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Semivowel | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | |||
| Lateral | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Trill | pronounced as /link/ |
Allentiac had at least six vowels, written a, e, i, o, u, ù. The ù is thought to represent the central vowel pronounced as /link/.
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for the Huarpean languages.[1]
| gloss | Henia | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| one | lka | negui | ||
| two | yemen | yemeni | ||
| three | pultun | pultuni | ||
| head | yoto | |||
| tooth | tuxe | tex | ||
| water | kaha | aka | ||
| fire | kʔtek | ketek | ||
| sun | tekta | xumek | ||
| tree | zaʔat | eye | ||
| maize | telag | telam | ||
| bird | zurú | zuru | lemin |
. Čestmír Loukotka . Classification of South American Indian languages . registration . UCLA Latin American Center . 1968 . Los Angeles.
. 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.