Culle language

Culle
Culli, Kulyi
Native to	Peru
Region	La Libertad, Cajamarca (Cajabamba), Ancash (Pallasca)
Extinct	mid-20th century?
Language family	unclassified (Hibito–Cholon?)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	cull1235

Culle, also spelled Culli, Cullí, or Kulyi, is a poorly attested extinct language of the Andean highlands of northern Peru. It is the original language of the highlands of La Libertad Region, the south of the Cajamarca Region (Cajabamba), and the north of the Ancash region (Pallasca). It is known through various word lists collected while the language was still spoken and through vocabulary loaned into the Spanish spoken in the region.

Flores Reyna (1996) reports that Culli was spoken by at least one family in the town of Tauca, Pallasca Province, Ancash region, until the middle of the 20th century. While it appears that Culli has been displaced in its whole range by Spanish, the possibility of speakers remaining in some remote village cannot be ruled out altogether.

Vocabulary

What little is known of the Culle language consists mostly of vocabulary. A sample list of words is given by Loutkotka; some of these are presented here:

• ahhi – woman
• čallua – fish
• ču – head
• čukuáll – heart
• koñ, goñ – water
• kumú – drink
• mú – fire
• múñ – moon
• urú – tree
• usú – man

Classification

Because it is poorly attested, it has not been possible to definitively classify Culle.