{{Short description|Extinct language of Colombia}} {{Expand language|topic=|langcode=es|otherarticle=Idioma pijao|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox language | name = Pijao | states = Colombia | region = Tolima | ethnicity = Pijao people | extinct = 1950s | familycolor = American | family = unclassified<br>(Cariban?) | iso3 = pij | glotto = pija1235 | glottorefname = Pijao | map = Nacion_Pijao.JPG | mapcaption = Map of the Pijao people and language | altname = Pinao | map2 = Lang Status 01-EX.svg | mapcaption2 = {{center|Pijao is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger''.}} }}
'''Pijao''' (''Piajao'', originally Pinao<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zwisler |first=Joshua James |date=2018 |title=The Pijao of Natagaima: Post-Linguicide Indigenous Identity and Language |url=https://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local--files/article:vol6n1p51-80/zwisler_cadernos_vol6_no1_51-80_2018.pdf |journal=Cadernos de Etnolingüística |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=51–80}}</ref>) is an unclassified indigenous American language that was spoken in the villages of Ortega, Coyaima (Koyai, Tupe) and Natagaima in the Magdalena River Valley of Colombia until the 1950s, by the Pijao and Panche people.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rivet |first=Paul |date=1943 |title=La influencia karib en Colombia |url=https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/293664/4/a769769a-1104-4ddf-8434-161625f89bf6.txt |journal=RINE |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=55–93, 283–295}}</ref>
==Subdivisions== Pijao subtribes reported by Rivet (1943, 1944) and cited in Mason (1950):<ref name="Mason-1950">{{cite book |last=Mason |first=John Alden |authorlink=John Alden Mason |date=1950 |chapter=The languages of South America |editor-first1=Julian |editor-last1=Steward |title=Handbook of South American Indians |volume=6 |pages=157–317 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143 |location=Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office}}</ref>
:''Aype, Paloma, Ambeina, Amoya, Tumbo, Coyaima, Poina (Yaporoge), Mayto (Maito, Marto), Mola, Atayma (Otaima), Tuamo, Bulira, Ocaima, Behuni (Beuni, Biuni), Ombecho, Anaitoma, Totumo, Natagaima, Pana (Pamao), Guarro, Hamay, Zeraco, Lucira,'' and ''Tonuro''.
==Classification== A small vocabulary list was collected in 1943; only 30 Pijao words and expressions are known.{{Cn|date=May 2025}}
The few words which resemble Carib are thought to be loans; toponyms in Pijao country are also Carib. Durbin & Seijas (1973) did not detect significant connections between Pijao and other unclassified languages of the area: Colima, Muzo, Pantágora, and Panche, but these are even more poorly attested than Pijao.{{Sfn|Durbin|Seijas|1973}}
Jolkesky (2016) also notes that there are lexical similarities with the Witoto-Okaina languages.<ref name="Jolkesky-2016">{{cite thesis|last=Jolkesky |first=Marcelo Pinho de Valhery |date=2016 |url=http://www.etnolinguistica.org/tese:jolkesky-2016-arqueoecolinguistica |title=Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas |type=Ph.D. dissertation |location=Brasília |publisher=University of Brasília |edition=2}}</ref>
==Vocabulary== {| class="wikitable" |+ !Pijao !gloss !Pijao !gloss !Pijao !gloss !Pijao !gloss !Pijao !gloss |- |{{lang|pij|amé}} |tree |''alamán'' |crocodile |''nuhúgi'' |woman |''golúpa'' |cassava |''orái'' |red |- |''homéro'' |bow |''tínki'' |tooth |''oréma'' |man |''lún'' |eye |''toléma'' |snake |- |''sumén'' |to drink |''tána'' |water |''yaguáde'' |jaguar |''oléma'' |ear |''huíl'' |sun |- |''čaguála'' |canoe |''nasés'' |house |''núna'' |moon |''pegil'' |foot |''tenú'' |tobacco |- |''kahírre'' |dog |''hoté'' |star |''ñáma'' |hand |''tápe'' |stone | | |}
== Notes == {{Reflist}}
==References== {{refbegin}} *{{Cite journal |last=Durbin |first=Marshall |last2=Seijas |first2=Haydée |date=January 1973 |title=A Note on Panche, Pijao, Pantagora (Palenque), Colima and Muzo |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/465239 |journal=International Journal of American Linguistics |language=en |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=47–51 |doi=10.1086/465239 |issn=0020-7071|url-access=subscription }} {{refend}}
Category:Indigenous languages of the South American Northwest Category:Languages of Colombia Category:Unclassified languages of South America Category:Indigenous languages of South America
{{-}}{{Languages of Colombia}}{{South American languages}}{{indigenousAmerican-lang-stub}}