Chimuan (also Chimúan) or Yuncan (Yunga–Puruhá, Yunca–Puruhán) is a hypothetical small extinct language family of northern Peru and Ecuador (inter-Andean valley).

Family division

Chimuan consisted of three attested languages: All languages are now extinct. Campbell (2012) classifies Mochica and Cañar–Puruhá each as separate language families. Mochica was one of the major languages of pre-Columbian South America. It was documented by Fernando de la Carrera and Middendorff in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries respectively. It became extinct ca. 1950, although some people remember a few words. Adelaar & Muysken (2004) consider Mochica a language isolate for now. Cañari and Puruhá are documented with only a few words. These two languages are usually connected with Mochica. However, as their documentation level is so low, it may not be possible to confirm this association. According to Adelaar & Muysken (2004), Jijón y Caamaño's evidence of their relationship is only a single word: Mochica nech "river", Cañari necha; based on similarities with neighboring languages, he finds a Barbacoan connection more likely. Quingnam, possibly the same language as Lengua (Yunga) Pescadora, is sometimes taken to be a dialect of Mochica, but it is unattested, unless a list of numerals discovered in 2010 turns out to be Quingnam or Pescadora as expected. Those numerals are not, however, Mochica.

Mason (1950)

Yunca-Puruhán (Chimuan) internal classification by Mason (1950): Mason (1950) also included Atalán, which is no longer considered to be part of the Yunca-Puruhán (Chimuan) family.

Tovar (1961)

Tovar (1961), partly based on Schmidt (1926), adds Tallán (Sechura–Catacao) to Chimuan (which he calls Yunga-Puruhá). Tovar's (1961) classification below is cited from Stark (1972).

Proposed external relationships

Stark (1972) proposed a Maya–Yunga–Chipayan macrofamily linking Mayan with Uru–Chipaya and Yunga (Mochica).

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for the Chimuan languages. ! gloss !! Chimú !! Eten !! Cañari !! Puruhá ! one ! two ! head ! hand ! water ! fire ! sun ! maize ! bird ! jaguar ! fish ! house