Macro-Arawakan is a proposed language family of South America and the Caribbean centered on the Arawakan languages and merged with Tupian languages. Sometimes, the proposal is called Tupi-Arawakan, and its central family is called Maipurean.
Proposals
Kaufman (1990) includes the following:
- Arawakan (Maipurean)
- Arawan
- Guajiboan
- Candoshi
Payne (1991) and Derbyshire (1992) have:
- Arawakan (Maipurean)
- Arawan
- Guajiboan
- Puquina
- Harakmbet
Jolkesky (2016) argues for the following:
- Arawakan (Maipurean)
- Candoshi
- Puquina
- Munichi
According to Jolkesky (2016: 611–616), the Proto-Macro-Arawakan language would have been spoken in the Middle Ucayali River Basin during the beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE, and its speakers would have produced Tutishcainyo pottery in the region.
Martins (2005: 342–370) groups the Arawakan and Nadahup languages together as part of a proposed Makúan-Arawakan (Nadahup-Arawakan) family, but this proposal has been rejected by Aikhenvald (2006: 237).
Carvalho (2021) notes that the Arawakan and Arawan families have had significant long-term mutual interaction, but does not consider the two language families to be related. He further proposes that the Juruá-Purus linguistic corridor had facilitated the migration of Arawakan speakers to the southern fringes of the Amazon basin.
Pronouns
Pronominal system of the Macro-Arawakan languages:
:{| class=wikitable
|-
! language !! I !! you (sg) !! he/she/it !! we !! you (pl) !! they
|-
! Proto-Arawakan
| *nu/*ni- || *pɨ- || *tʰu || *wi/*wa- || *hi- || *ra-
|-
! Munichi
| -nɨ/-ɲɨ || -pɨ || - || -wɨ || -di || -ra ‘3’
|-
! Puquina
| no, -ni-; || po, -p-, -pi || ʧu, -su- || - || - || -
|-
! Candoshi
| no || - || su- || ija, iː || si || -
|-
! Yanesha'
| na, no, ne || pʲa, pʲo, pe || - || ja, jo, je || sa, so, se || -
|-
! Aguachile
| ni || pi || - || waʔaha || - || -
|}
Lexicon
Several words in the basic lexicon of the Macro-Arawakan languages were pointed out as possible cognates: