Chimuan (also Chimúan) or Yuncan (YungaâÂÂPuruhá, YuncaâÂÂPuruhán) is a hypothetical small extinct language family of northern Peru and Ecuador (inter-Andean valley).
Chimuan is proposed to be consisted of at least three attested languages:
All languages are now extinct.
Campbell (2012) classifies Mochica and CañariâÂÂPuruhá each as separate language families.
Mochica was one of the major languages of pre-Columbian South America. It was documented by Fernando de la Carrera and in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries respectively. It became extinct around 1920, although some people remembered a few words into the late 20th century. Most scholars consider Mochica a language isolate.
Cañari and Puruhá are documented with only a few words. These two languages are usually connected with Mochica. However, as their documentation level is so low, it may not be possible to confirm this association. According to Adelaar & Muysken (2004), Jijón y Caamaño's evidence of their relationship is only a single word: Mochica nech "river", Cañari necha; based on similarities with neighboring languages, he finds a Barbacoan connection more likely.
Quingnam, considered the same language as the lengua pescadora, was sometimes erroneously taken to be a dialect of Mochica, but it is effectively unattested, excepting a list of numerals discovered in 2010 thought likely to be of Quingnam or Pescadora as expected. These numerals are not, however, Mochica.
Yunca-Puruhán (Chimuan) internal classification by Mason (1950):
Mason (1950) added Atalán to the family.
Tovar (1961), partly based on Schmidt (1926), adds Tallán (SechuraâÂÂCatacao) to Chimuan (which he calls Yunga-Puruhá). Tovar's (1961) classification below is cited from Stark (1972).
Stark (1972) proposed a MayaâÂÂYungaâÂÂChipayan macrofamily linking Mayan with UruâÂÂChipaya and Yunga (Mochica).
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for the Chimuan languages.