Palta language
| Palta | |
|---|---|
| Malacata | |
| Native to | Ecuador |
| Region | Amazonia |
| Ethnicity | Palta people |
| Extinct | colonial era |
unclassified (Chicham?) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
jiv-pal | |
| Glottolog | None |
The Palta language is an extinct language of the Ecuadorian Amazon. It is attested by only a few words: yumé 'water', xeme 'maize', capal 'fire', let 'wood/firewood' (Jiménez de la Espada, 1586), and some toponyms. Based on this, Jacinto Jijón y Caamaño (1936) classified it as a Jivaroan language. Kaufman (1994) states that there is "little resemblance", but Adelaar (2004) finds the connection reasonable. In addition to these four words are toponyms, which commonly end in -anga, -numa, -namá. The latter two suggest the Jivaroan locative case suffix -num ~ -nam, and Torero (1993) notes that the last resembles Aguaruna (Jivaroan) namák(a) 'river' as well.
Mason (1950) also lists Malacata as an alternate name for Palta.