Maynas language
language
Maynas (Mayna, Maina), also known as Rimachu, is an extinct Cahuapanan language of Peru. Its linguistic affiliation has been debated over, including links to Chicham, Zaparoan, and Candoshi-Shapra.
Geograhpical distribution
According to Čestmír Loukotka (1968), it was once spoken between the Nucuray River, Chambira River, and Pastaza River. Some of the sources on Maynas report that it was spoken along the Marañón River, from its tributary the Morona River to near the Chambira River.
History
The Mayna people numbered 3,500 in 1620, but only 15 years later there were no more than 2000 of them left, indicating a severe demographic decline around that time.
Classification
Several sources have listed it as a dialect of, or a language related to, Omurano, which also goes by the name Mayna, but Hammarström (2011) showed that they are separate languages. Attempts have been made to link Maynas with the Chicham, Cahuapanan, Zaparoan, and Candoshi languages, but they have not yet been conclusive.
Taylor and Descola (1981) argue for the inclusion of the Maynas into the Chicham (Jivaroan) linguistic family based on ethnographic similarities; for example, their rituals using trophy heads, though these cultural elements were also shared by non-Chicham-speaking groups in the geographic area.
According to Luis Miguel Rojas-Berscia, the group referred to as Maynas spoke two different languages; Northern Maynas could be related to Candoshi. Maynas territory was said to begin at the Pongo de Manseriche, so named because of the parrots living there.
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This entry incorporates text from “Maynas language” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.