Canari and Puruha are two poorly attested extinct languages of the Maranon River basin in Ecuador that are difficult to classify. Puruha is scarcely attested at all, and Canari is known mainly from place names. Cestmir Loukotka suggested in 1968 that the two might be related to Mochica in a family he called Chimuan, a view Terrence Kaufman later followed, though Willem Adelaar considers it more likely that Canari and Puruha were Barbacoan languages instead.
Facts
RegionThe Ecuadoran Andes. Canari was spoken in what is now Canar Province and Puruha, also called Puruguay, in Chimborazo and Bolivar Provinces, in the Maranon River basin of highland Ecuador. 1 Speaker Count Proto-Language StatusCanari and Puruha are two poorly attested extinct languages whose family placement is unresolved. Loukotka (1968) and Kaufman (1994) grouped them with Mochica in a proposed Chimuan family, while Adelaar (2004) argued they were more likely Barbacoan languages. No proto-language has been reconstructed under either proposal. 1 In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Canari-Puruha Languages
Wikimedia FoundationInfobox, region field
Ecuadoran Andes
Classification section, Adelaar citation
Adelaar (2004:397) thinks it is more likely that they were Barbacoan languages
Infobox, description line
Extinct language pair of Ecuador
View the Source Wikidata: Canari-Puruha
Wikidata Q5055576, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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