Cacán (also Cacan, Kakán, Kakana, Calchaquí, Chaka, Diaguita, and Kaka) is an unclassified language spoken by the Indigenous Diaguita and Calchaquí peoples in northern Argentina and Chile. It has claimed to be of various linguistic affiliations.
Name The name Diaguita is from Cacán 'village inhabitant'. The language was originally called Caca according to the Jesuit Alonso de Bárcena, but was modified to its current form.
History In the 16th century, the Cacán-speaking Diaguita people, who were "subdivided into numerous subtribes", such as the Calchaquí, Capayán, Hualfín, Pazioca, Pular and Quilme, lived in a vast territory encompassing modern-day Catamarca, La Rioja, and parts of Salta and San Juan provinces, and shared Tucumán and Santiago del Estero provinces with the Tonocoté. They notably resided in the Calchaquí Valley, crossing areas of Catamarca, Tucumán, and Salta. Around this time, the name Diaguita referred only to the Indigenous peoples of Catamarca and La Rioja, excluding those in the Calchaquí Valley. Following their defeat in the Calchaquí Wars, the Diaguitas were deported to other areas, entirely depopulating the Calchaquí Valley. Among the deported were the Quilmes, who were moved to what is now Quilmes, located in the Greater Buenos Aires area.
Documentation The language was documented in a grammar by Barcena, but the manuscript is lost.
Classification Genetic affiliation of the language remains unclear, and it has not been conclusively linked to any existing language family, though past proposals have included a link with Kunza and the essentially unknown Humahuaca.
Dialects According to Willem Adelaar (2004), some varieties, such as Capayana, required interpreters for the Spaniards to comprehend, indicating its status as a distinct language.
Mason (1950) Mason (1950) lists the Diaguita subgroups of Abaucan, Amaycha, Anchapa, Andalgalá, Anguinahao, Calchaquí, Casminchango, Coipe, Colalao, Famatina, Hualfina, Paquilin, Quilme, Tafí, Tocpo, Tucumán, Upingascha, and Yocabil. Acalian, Catamarca, and Tamano are possibly also Diaguita subgroups.
Vocabulary
Cacán vocabulary possibly exists today in toponyms and local surnames, but the etymologies are often dubious. The Jesuit missionary Father Pedro Lozano recorded a few words of the language, listed in Nardi (1977) and Piispanen (2021).
A phrase in Cacán and five other Indigenous languages of southern South America was recorded by Alonzo de Barcena in a 1594 letter, being 'God regards you'.
+Cacán wordsGlossPiispanen (2021)town, region; river; valleytowncactus thorntownfertility deitylord and kingIncacourageousmuchaltar; place of sacrificeshaman; medicheadwaterwater ~ channel, streamfiresuntreetype of acaciatype of lignum vitaetype of edible fruit legumepossible name of hallucinogenic fruitlikely type of fruit-bearing planttype of poisonous bushtype of cactustype of owltype of bird of preytrushtype of small bird ~ sea birdchickentype of beetletype of guanacotortugacatlikely type of raven or vulturearrowmaize
Notes
Viegas Barros (2023) The following list of words is taken from Viegas Barros (2023), who collected them from a rememberer of the language in 2021. GlossCacán20dryhard to take outmaize
References
Alain Fabre, 2005, Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: CALCHAQUÍ