Chibcha | |
---|---|
Muisca or Muysca | |
Muysc cubun | |
Pronunciation | mʷɨsk kuβun |
Native to | Colombia |
Region | Altiplano Cundiboyacense |
Ethnicity | Muisca |
Extinct | 18th century[1][3] |
Chibchan
| |
Dialects | Duit |
only numerals | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 | chb |
ISO 639-3 | chb |
Glottolog | chib1270 |
Chibchan languages. Chibcha itself is spoken in the southernmost area, in central Colombia | |
Chibcha, Mosca, Muisca,[4] Muysca (*/ˈmɨska/ *[ˈmʷɨska][5]), or Muysca de Bogotá[6] is a language spoken by the Muisca people of the Muisca Confederation, one of the many indigenous cultures of the Americas. The Muisca inhabit the Altiplano Cundiboyacense of what today is the country of Colombia.
The name of the language Muysc cubun in its own language means "language of the people", from muysca ("people") and cubun ("language" or "word"). Despite the disappearance of the language in the 17th century (approximately), several language revitalization processes are underway within the current Muisca communities. The Muisca people remain ethnically distinct and their communities are recognized by the Colombian state.[7]
Important scholars who have contributed to the knowledge of the Chibcha language include Juan de Castellanos, Bernardo de Lugo, José Domingo Duquesne and Ezequiel Uricoechea.
The Muysca language is part of the Chibcha linguistic family, which in turn belongs to the macro-Chibchan group. The Chibcha linguistic family includes several indigenous languages of Central America and Northwestern South America.
In prehistorical times, in the Andean civilizations called preceramic, the population of northwestern South America migrated through the Darién Gap between the isthmus of Panama and Colombia. Other Chibchan languages are spoken in southern Central America and the Muisca and related indigenous groups took their language with them into the heart of Colombia where they comprised the Muisca Confederation, a cultural grouping.
As early as 1580 the authorities in Charcas, Quito, and Santa Fe de Bogotá mandated the establishment of schools in native languages and required that priests study these languages before ordination. In 1606 the entire clergy was ordered to provide religious instruction in Chibcha. The Chibcha language declined in the 18th century.[8]
In 1770, King Charles III of Spain officially banned use of the language in the region [8] as part of a de-indigenization project. The ban remained in law until Colombia passed its constitution of 1991.
Modern Muisca scholars as Diego Gómez[9] have claimed that the variety of languages was much larger than previously thought and that in fact there was a Chibcha dialect continuum that extended throughout the Cordillera Oriental from the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy to the Sumapaz Páramo.[9] The quick colonization of the Spanish and the improvised use of traveling translators reduced the differences between the versions of Chibcha over time.[10]
Since 2008 a Spanish–Muysc cubun dictionary containing more than 3000 words has been published online. The project was partly financed by the University of Bergen, Norway.[11]
Because Muysc Cubun is an extinct language, various scholars as Adolfo Constenla (1984), González de Pérez (2006) and Willem Adelaar with the collaboration of P. C. Muysken (2007) and then Saravia (2015) have formulated different phonological systems taking into account linguistic documents from the 17th century and comparative linguistics.
Bilabial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t | tʂ | k | ||
voiced | b | ɡ | |||||
Fricative | voiceless | ɸ | s | ʂ | h | ||
voiced | (β) | (ɣ) | |||||
Nasal | m | n | |||||
Approximant | j | w |
Sounds /b, ɡ/ also may be heard as fricatives [β, ɣ] in intervocalic positions.
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | ɨ | u |
Mid | e | o | |
Open | a |
The following greetings have been taken directly from written sources from the 17th century when the language was alive.
Counting 1 to 10 in Chibcha is ata, boza, mica, muyhyca, hyzca, taa, cuhupqua, suhuza, aca, hubchihica.[11] The Muisca only had numbers one to ten and the number 20: gueta, used extensively in their complex lunisolar Muisca calendar. For numbers higher than 10 they used additions; quihicha ata ("ten plus one") for eleven. Higher numbers were multiplications of twenty; guehyzca would be "five times twenty"; 100.
This list is a selection from the online dictionary and is sortable. Note the different potatoes and types of maize and their meaning.[11]
Muysccubun | English |
---|---|
aba | "maize" |
aso | "parrot" |
ba | "finger" or "finger tip" |
bhosioiomy | "potato [black inside]" (species unknown) |
chihiza | "vein" (of blood) or "root" |
cho | "good" |
chyscamuy | "maize [dark]" (species unknown) |
chysquyco | "green" or "blue" |
coca | "finger nail" |
fo | "fox" |
foaba | Phytolacca bogotensis, plant used as soap |
fun | "bread" |
funzaiomy | "potato [black]" (species unknown) |
fusuamuy | "maize [not very coloured]" (species unknown) |
gaca | "feather" |
gaxie | "small" |
gazaiomy | "potato [wide]" (species unknown) |
guahaia | "dead body" |
guexica | "grandfather" and "grandmother" |
guia | "bear" or "older brother/sister" |
hichuamuy | "maize [of rice]" (species and meaning unknown) |
hosca | "tobacco" |
iome | "potato" (Solanum tuberosum) |
iomgy | "flower of potato plant" |
iomza | "potato" (species unknown) |
iomzaga | "potato [small]" (species unknown) |
muyhyza | "flea" (Tunga penetrans) |
muyhyzyso | "lizard" |
nygua | "salt" |
nyia | "gold" or "money" |
phochuba | "maize [soft and red]" (species and meaning unknown) |
pquaca | "arm" |
pquihiza | "lightning" |
quye | "tree" or "leaf" |
quyecho | "arrow" |
quyhysaiomy | "potato [floury]" (species unknown) |
quyiomy | "potato [long]" (species unknown) |
'saca | "nose" |
sasamuy | "maize [reddish]" (species unknown) |
simte | "owl [white]" |
soche | "white-tailed deer" |
suque | "soup" |
tyba | "hi!" (to a friend) |
tybaiomy | "potato [yellow]" (species unknown) |
xiua | "rain" or "lake" |
usua | "white river clay" |
uamuyhyca | "fish"; Eremophilus mutisii |
xieiomy | "potato [white]" (species unknown) |
xui | "broth" |
ysy | "that", "those" |
zihita | "frog" |
zoia | "pot" |
zysquy | "head" or "skull" |
Muysc cubun | Duit Boyacá |
Uwa Boyacá N. de Santander Arauca |
Barí N. de Santander |
Chimila Cesar Magdalena |
Kogui S.N. de Santa Marta |
Kuna Darién Gap |
Guaymí Panama Costa Rica |
Boruca Costa Rica |
Maléku Costa Rica |
Rama Nicaragua |
English | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
chie | tia | siʔ | chibai | má | saka | sö | sö | tebej | tlijii | tukan | Moon | [12][13][14][15] |
ata | atia | úbistia | intok | ti-tasu/nyé | kwati | éˇxi | dooka | one | [16][17] | |||
muysca | dary | tsá | ngäbe | ochápaká | nkiikna | person man people |
[18][19] | |||||
aba | eba | á | maize | [20][21] | ||||||||
pquyquy | tò | heart | [22] | |||||||||
bcasqua | yút | purkwe | to die | [23][24] | ||||||||
uê | háta | ju | uu | house | [25][26] | |||||||
cho | mex | morén | good | [27][28] | ||||||||
zihita | yén | pek-pen | frog | [24][29] |
Words of Muysc cubun origin are still used in the department of Cundinamarca, of which Bogotá is the capital, and the department of Boyacá, with capital Tunja. These include curuba (Colombian fruit banana passionfruit), toche (yellow oriole), guadua (a large bamboo used in construction) and tatacoa ("snake"). The Muisca descendants continue many traditional ways, such as the use of certain foods, use of coca for teas and healing rituals, and other aspects of natural ways, which are a respected part of culture in Colombia.
As the Muisca did not have words for imported technology or items in early colonial times, they borrowed them from Spanish, such as "shoe"; çapato,[30] "sword"; espada,[31] "knife"; cuchillo[32] and other words.
Most of the original Muisca names of the villages, rivers and national parks and some of the provinces in the central highlands of the Colombian Andes are kept or slightly altered. Usually the names refer to farmfields (ta), the Moon goddess Chía, her husband Sué, names of caciques, the topography of the region, built enclosures (ca) and animals of the region.[33]
The only public school in Colombia currently teaching Chibcha (to about 150 children) is in the town of Cota, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) by road from Bogotá. The school is named Jizcamox (healing with the hands) in Chibcha.[34]
The Myska language is a revitalized dialect based on colonial Chibcha, created by the Argentine Facundo Saravia. The pronunciation is based on the phonological proposal by María González for chibcha, although it has several innovations. Its spelling is also based on the Aproximación al sistema fonético-fonológico de la lengua muisca[35] and a free adaptation of the spelling of Fray Bernardo de Lugo.
This language has received several criticisms from the chibcha cabildos and sectors of academia.
Phoneme | Letter |
---|---|
/i/ | i |
/ɨ/ | y |
/u/ | u |
/e/ | e |
/o/ | o |
/a/ | a |
/p/ | p |
/t/ | t |
/k/ | k |
/b~β/ | b |
/g~ɣ/ | g |
/ɸ/ | f |
/s/ | s |
/ʂ/ | ch |
/h/ | h |
/tʂ/ | zh |
/m/ | m |
/n/ | n |
/w/ | w |
/j/ | ï |
The Myska alphabet consists of around 20 letters. Myska didn't have an "L" in their language. The letters are pronounced more or less as follows:[36][37][38]
a – as in Spanish "casa"; ka – "enclosure" or "fence"
e – as in "action"; izhe – "street"
i – open "i" as in "'inca" – sié – "water" or "river"
o – short "o" as in "box" – to – "dog"
u – "ou" as in "you" – uba – "face"
y – between "i" and "e"; "a" in action – ty – "singing"
b – as in "bed", or as in Spanish "haba"; – bohozhá – "with"
ch – "sh" as in "shine", but with the tongue pushed backwards – chuta – "son" or "daughter"
f – between a "b" and "w" using both lips without producing sound, a short whistle – foï – "mantle"
g – "gh" as in "good", or as in Spanish "abogado"; – gata – "fire"
h – as in "hello" – huïá – "inwards"
ï – "i-e" as in Beelzebub – ïe – "road" or "prayer"
k – "c" as in "cold" – kony – "wheel"
m – "m" as in "man" – mika – "three"
n – "n" as in "nice" – nyky – "brother" or "sister"
p – "p" as in "people" – paba – "father"
s – "s" as in "sorry" – sahawá – "husband"
t – "t" as in "text" – yta – "hand"
w – "w" as in "wow!" – we – "house"
zh – as in "chorizo", but with the tongue to the back – zhysky – "head"
The accentuation of the words is like in Spanish on the second-last syllable except when an accent is shown: Bacata is Ba-CA-ta and Bacatá is Ba-ca-TA.
In case of repetition of the same vowel, the word can be shortened: fuhuchá ~ fuchá – "woman".[37]
In Chibcha, words are made of combinations where sometimes vowels are in front of the word. When this happens in front of another vowel, the vowel changes as follows:[39]
a-uba becomes oba – "his (or her, its) face"
a-ita becomes eta – "his base"
a-yta becomes ata – "his hand" (note: ata also means "one")
Sometimes this combination is not performed and the words are written with the prefix plus the new vowel: a-ita would become eta but can be written as aeta, a-uba as aoba and a-yta as ayta
The subjects in Chibcha do not have genders or plurals. to thus can mean "male dog", "male dogs", "female dog" or "female dogs". To solve this, the Myska used the numbers and the word for "man", cha, and "woman", fuhuchá, to specify gender and plural:[40]
Myska | English |
---|---|
hycha | I |
mwe | thou / you (singular) – informal and formal use |
asy | he / she / it / they |
chié | we |
mié | you (plural) |
The possessive pronoun is placed before the word it refers to.
Myska[40][41] | English |
---|---|
zhy- / i- | my |
um- | your |
a- | his / her / its / their |
chi- | our |
mi- | your (plural) |
The Myska used two types of verbs, ending on -skwá and -suká; bkyskwá ("to do") and guitysuká ("to whip") which have different forms in their grammatical conjugations. bkyskwá is shown below, for verbs ending on -suká.
Myska | English |
---|---|
kyka | to do |
Myska | English |
---|---|
zhybkyskwá | I do or did |
umbkyskwá | you (singular) do or did |
abkyskwá | he / she / it does or did |
chibkyskwá | we do/did |
mibkyskwá | you do/did |
abkyskwá | they do/did |
Myska | English |
---|---|
zhybky | I did or have done |
umbky | you (singular) did or " " |
abky | he / she / it did or has done |
chibky | we did or have done |
mibky | you did or " " |
abky | they did or " " |
Myska | English |
---|---|
zhybkyngá | I shall do |
umbkyngá | you will do |
abkyngá | he / she / it " " |
chibkyngá | we shall do |
mibkyngá | you will do |
abkyngá | they " " |
Myska | English |
---|---|
kyû | do (singular) |
kyuua | do (plural) |
Myska | English |
---|---|
chakyia | may I do |
makyia | may you do |
kyia | may he / she / it do |
chikyia | may we do |
mikyia | may you do |
kyia | may they do |
This constructed language has raised several concerns on the part of the Chibcha groups recognized by the Colombian State due to accusations of cultural appropriation and for displaying itself as a living native language despite the fact that the Chibchas lost their language perhaps since the 18th century, so that there are no native speakers today. Another concern of the Chibcha councils is the commercialization of their linguistic heritage through courses or talks at public events, schools, squares and other places, whose members present themselves as legitimate representatives of the current Chibchas, or as their direct descendants. With these and other activities they raise money, including from national institutions and international organizations on behalf of the Chibcha and their revitalization, using the constructed language as an instrument to demonstrate their progress and legitimacy[42]. On the other hand, the use of Mysca in social networks and public events has generated the feeling that Chibcha has been a language that has survived uninterruptedly since pre-Hispanic times, ignoring the historical process of acculturation and the struggle ancestral of the cabildos for the communal ownership of their lands, for the recognition of their identity by the State and against the exclusion and poverty to which the members and ancestors of the Chibcha cabildos have been subject.
This neo-language has also been involved in different academic controversies because on many occasions Myska is presented to the public as a natural language or, in the best of cases, as the closest approximation to the language spoken by the Chibchas, despite that its phonology, spelling, grammar, and even vocabulary, have not developed naturally but rather based on ancient writings, which is why its consistency and distance from the spelling of known linguistic sources is questioned. The presentation of this reconstructed language as an almost faithful approximation to the original or equivalent to the colony's Chibcha has aroused the following criticism:
Waimí (Guaymi) | |
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Talamanca | |
Votic | |
Kuna–Colombian | |
Arwako–Chimila | |
Other | |
Italics indicate extinct languages |
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