Esmeraldéño, also called Takame or Atacame, is an extinct language isolate formerly spoken along the lower Esmeraldas River in the western part of Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador, associated with Afro-Ecuadorian communities that formed from contact between shipwrecked African slaves and local indigenous peoples. The only linguistic data on the language comes from material gathered in 1877 by J. M. Pallares and published in Teodoro Wolf's 1892 study of Ecuadorian geology and geography. A connection to the Pumé language of Venezuela has been proposed since 1902, and some vocabulary overlaps with the extinct Yurumanguí language, but the isolate classification remains the scholarly consensus.
Facts
RegionFormerly spoken along the lower Esmeraldas River in the western part of Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador. 1 Speaker CountWikipedia lead describes Esmeraldeno as an extinct language isolate; the only data on it was collected in 1877, no surviving speakers. Proto-Language StatusTreated as a language isolate. A connection to the Pume language of Venezuela has been proposed since 1902, and some vocabulary overlaps exist with the extinct Yurumangui language, but the isolate classification remains the scholarly consensus. 1 In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Esmeraldeno Language
Wikimedia FoundationLead sentence
Esmeraldeño, or Esmeralda (also called Takame or Atacame), is an extinct language isolate formerly spoken in the coastal region of Ecuador, specifically in the western part of Esmeraldas Province.
Geographical distribution section
In the 19th century, the language was spoken along the lower Esmeraldas River in Esmeraldas Province.
Classification section
It has been proposed since 1902 that the language is connected to the still-spoken Pumé language of Venezuela. It also has some lexical similarities with the extinct Yurumanguí language.
Lead sentence, extinct-status clause
is an extinct language isolate formerly spoken in the coastal region of Ecuador
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