Taruma (Taruamá) is a divergent language of northeastern South America. It has been reported to be extinct several times since as far back as 1770, but Eithne Carlin discovered the last three speakers living in Maruranau among the Wapishana, and is documenting the language.^[2][3] The people and language are known as Saluma in Suriname.^[4]

Classification

Taruma is unclassified.^[1] It has been proposed to be distantly related to Katembri (Kaufman 1990), but this relationship has not been repeated in recent surveys of South American languages (Campbell 2012).^[5]

History

Taruma was spoken around the mouth of the Rio Negro during the late 1600s, but the speakers later moved to southern Guyana. In the 1940s, the Taruma tribe were reported to no longer exist as a distinct group.^[6][4] However, their presence has recently been confirmed in the Wapishana village of Marunarau, where they are recognized as a distinct tribe. ^[7]

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Chibchan, Katukina-Katawixi, Arawak, Jeoromitxi, Tupi, Arawa, Jivaro, Karib, Mura-Matanawi, Tukano, Yanomami, and Kwaza language families due to contact.^[8]

The following table illustrates some of the aforementioned borrowing situations:^[8]

gloss	Taruma	Damana (Chibchan)	Katukina	Wapishana (Arawakan)	Arikapu	Proto-Tupian	Proto-Arawan	Proto-Jivaroan	Proto-Cariban	Mura	Proto-Tucanoan
father	aide	ade	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
sister	aʧi	asi	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
mouth	kukana	kəka	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
bird	zuri	suri	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
snake	báhũ	-	paɡo	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
wood	u	-	-ʔu	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
tick	piʤíʤi	-	piːʧiN	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
tobacco	suma	-	uːba	suuma	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
bow	kobara	-	-	sumara	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
star	wire	-	-	wiiʐi	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
go	maku	-	-	makʰu-n	-	-	-	*maku 'leg'	-	-	-
monkey	rumi	-	-	ruumi	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
worm	pararu	-	-	pʰaʐaru	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
egg	dani	-	-	ʤani	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
chest	duku	-	-	ɗukʰuri	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
flea	kuwaba	-	-	kʰuwaiɓa	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
caiman	hiri	-	-	-	uhiri	-	-	-	-	-	-
deer	konia	-	-	-	kudi	-	-	-	-	-	-
dance (v.)	kabihwi	-	-	-	kəwi	-	-	-	-	-	-
eat	ko	-	-	-	-	*kˀu	-	-	-	-	-
path	afe	-	-	-	-	*ape	-	-	-	-	-
arrow	kupa	-	-	-	-	*ekʷˀɨp	-	-	-	-	-
salt	wuka	-	-	-	-	*wukɨt	-	-	-	-	-
deer	hiʧi	-	-	-	-	*ɨʧɨ	-	-	-	-	-
axe	bade	-	-	-	-	-	*bari	-	-	-	-
wild dog	hi	-	-	-	-	-	*-hi	-	-	-	-
forest	nukuda	-	-	-	-	-	*nuku 'mountain'	-	-	-	-
peccary	baki 'tapir'	-	-	-	-	-	-	*paki	*pakira	-	-
leaf	ʤuka	-	-	-	-	-	-	*nuka	-	-	-
sweet-potato	aɸi	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	*napi	-	*jãpi
canoe	kanawa	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	*kanawa	-	-
hand	aɸũ	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	*apô 'arm'	-	-
earth	dudu	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	*nono	-	-
poison	kʷima	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	*kuma	-	-
fire	hʷa	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	hũai	-
breast	iwa	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	iiwe	-
mountain	uwai	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	uwe 'forest'	-
foot	apa	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	apai	-
tongue	njebena	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	*tʲʔeme
water	dja	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	*tʲʔia 'river'
three	wikʲã	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	*ɨtˀia
woman	ɡumi-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	*tʔõmi-

Similarities with Chibchan (especially with the Magdalena and Dorasque-Changena subgroups) may be due to the former presence of Chibchan speakers in the Northeast Amazons.^[8]: 327 Similarities with Tucanoan suggest that Taruma had originated in the Caquetá basin.^[8]: 348

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.^[9]

gloss	Taruma
one	oshiwai
two	dzyowa
three	mikyahahi
head	a-dam
eye	a-tsi
man	gika
water	za
fire	fwa
sun	hwa
jaguar	dun
house	duiya

For a list of Taruma words from Jolkesky (2016),^[8] see the corresponding Portuguese article.