Sensi (Senti, Senci, Sentci, Senchi, Scensevo, Shensivo, Ssenssi, Šintsi[2]) is an extinct Panoan language, spoken on the right bank of the Ucayali River, Peru.[3] It disappeared around the mid-20th century.[2]
History
The Sensi people were first contacted in 1811 by Franciscans on the headwaters of the Maquía River, an eastern tributary of the Ucayali River. They were frequently described as highly different from other Panoan-speaking peoples, and their language was very different from others, though also as being similar to other Panoan languages. The Sensi language was initially documented in 12 words published in 1836 by Smyth and Lowe. Subsequently, Günter Tessmann (1930) includes a number of vocabulary items in the language. They disappear from the historical record in the mid-20th century.[2]
Classification
The Franciscans were the first to recognize the similarity of Sensi to other Panoan languages. In spite of its reported difference from other Panoan groups, David Fleck proposes that it was very similar to the Shipibo or Wariapano languages.[2]
Vocabulary
The following Sensi vocabulary items are listed in Tessmann (1930):[2]
| gloss | Sensi |
|---|---|
| woman | tši |
| jaguar | ináwa |
| tapir | áwua |
| stick | hívui |
| two | rawué |
| white | hóxo |
| red | ozé |
| corn | šinki |
| black | tšö́xö |
| caiman | mápue |
| to eat | piwué |
| to sleep | uxe (tá) |
| to kill | tete |
| sun | varíxi |
| banana | maníewo |
| one | nawuištikoe |
| water | enipáxa |
| good | íro |
| bad | mítše |
| house | puö́xe |
| tongue | yáta |
| tooth | küö́́dsa |
| eye | ítso |
| ear | helíxi |
| head | oma’tsi |
| hand | epípi |
| moon | puöne |
| earth | kuáhi |
| stone | mátsi |
| pot | tšapuóxe |
| man | mankó |
| woman | tšinán |
| chicken | otšitši |
| cassava | óma |
| three | narawuekoe |
15 total words do not correspond to words in other Panoan languages, and the other 20 are similar to Panoan languages of the Chama group. Tessmann himself claimed that only 17 words belonged to Panoan, seven words were from Jê, and five words from Arawakan, also suspecting that some words from Sensi were actually from Setebo instead. Fleck thus accords the informant to speak a language related to, but not a part of, the Chama group, and answered with non-Panoan vocabulary items when he had forgot his Sensi language. These may have been fabricated or from other legitimate languages. Thus, Sensi may be either a Panoan language, a mixed Panoan-non-Panoan language, or a completely non-Panoan language, in which case the informant would have taken vocabulary from Panoan languages which he also knew whenever he forgot his language. The first option is improbable, due to the geographic distribution of the languages proposed to be mixed in question, the second option is unlikely due to the Franciscan missionaries’ reports, and the third option is equally improbable due to the existence of the other wordlist published by Smyth and Lowe.[2]
| gloss | literal meaning | Sensi |
|---|---|---|
| Canopus | thing of the day | noteste |
| Jupiter | – | ishmawook |
| Sirius | little caiman | kapaygui |
| Orion (Rigel) | land tortoise | manasang |
| Procyon | – | chiska |
| Orion’s Belt | – | kishumah |
| Southern Cross | dew | nebo |
| Mars | forward | tapa |
| Regulus | arrow | pijarre |
| Gemini | cross | koorus |
| Capella | spoon | cuchara |
| Scorpius | manatee | manatee |
Three Spanish loanwords are found in the Smyth and Lowe list. The other words are very clearly of Panoan origin. This suggests that Sensi was indeed a “pure” Panoan language of the Chama subgroup.[2]
References
- ^ Sensi at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Fleck, David (2020-06-14). “Los Sensi de la Familia Pano”. Amazonía Peruana (33): 109–146. doi:10.52980/revistaamazonaperuana.vi33.22. ISSN 0252-886X.
- ^ International Encyclopedia of Linguistics: AAVE – Esperanto. Oxford University Press. 2003. p. 234. ISBN 9780195139778.