Chicham languages

The Chicham languages, also known as Jivaroan (Hívaro, Jívaro, Jibaro), and natively as aent, is a small language family of northern Peru and eastern Ecuador, in Amazonas, Cajamarca, Loreto, and San Martin, Peru and the Oriente region of Ecuador. The extinct Palta language was classified as Chicham by Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño about 1940 and was followed by Čestmír Loukotka, but Kaufman (1994) states that there is "little resemblance". However, only 4 words are known. The most promising external connections are with the Cahuapanan languages and perhaps a few other language isolates in proposals variously called Jívaro-Cahuapana (Hívaro-Kawapánan) (Jorge Suárez and others) or Macro-Jibaro or Macro-Andean (Morris Swadesh and others, with Cahuapanan, Urarina, Puelche, and maybe Huarpe). The language isolate Candoshi has also been linked to Chicham, as David Payne (1981) provides reconstructions for Proto-Shuar as well as Proto-Shuar-Candoshi. Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Quechuan, Kwaza, Taruma, Yanomami, Katukina-Katawixi, Kandoshi, Tupi, and Arawan language families due to contact. This suggests that Chicham had originated further downstream in the Central Amazon region. Chicham consists of four languages: Extinct Palta may have been Chicham as well. Based on the word for 'water', it is possible that Tabancale was also a Chicham language. Internal classification of the Chicham languages by Mason (1950): Internal classification by Jolkesky (2016): († = extinct) Payne's (1981) Proto-Shuar reconstruction is based on data from Shuar, Achuar, Aguaruna, and Huambisa, while his Proto-Shuar-Candoshi reconstruction also integrates data from Candoshi and Shapra.