In the eastern parts of Colombia there are Caribbean dialects. Grammars have been prepared by Fathers Anisson, De Tauste, and De Lugo, and a vocabulary by De Tauste (1680). - The Andi-Peruvian family of nations is divided into four classes: 1. The Quichuas (pronounced with a faucal croaking sound, hence also written Qquichhuas) or Incas were more widely spread at the time of the European invasion than they are now. They differ from the other indigenous races of South America, resembling more the Mexicans, and being of a dark olive complexion. The language of the incas, however, was not intelligible to their subjects, and Fr. Lacroix supposes that it was a sort of hieratic jargon, unknown to the profane. The Puquini about Paz and Lima obstinately conceal their idiom from foreigners. The language of the Quichuas was extended, by the agency of the incas, over their whole empire; so that it was known to all officers and educated persons from Quito as far as Chili and the kingdom of Tumac, and, sporadically, as far as the banks of the Plata. It consists of five dialects: a, Cuzcucano, one of the most cultivated idioms of South America, spoken also by the Creoles of Lima and by others; b, Quitena, the hardest and most corrupt; c, Lamano of Truxillo; d, Chinchaisuyo of Lima; e, Calchaqui of Tucuman. The Qui-chua sounds very harsh and explosive; it lacks b, d, f, g, j, v, x, and z.

It has cases and prepositions. The plural is generally formed by adding cuna. It has two forms of we. Munani, I love; munanqui, thou; munan, he; munanchic and munaycu, we; munanquichic, ye; munancu, they; munac, lover; munay, love; munasca, the person or thing loved. It counts by tens up to hundreds of thousands; and has a very rich and perfectly regular conjugation, even of the substantive verb. Its phraseology is simple, and the verb concludes the sentence. It was used for writing even by the incas, and the Limans prided themselves on their speaking it purely. There are grammars by Domingo de S. Tomas (1560), D. de Torres Rubio (1603), D. G. Holguin (1608), and many others; and in English, Markham's "Contributions toward a Quichua Grammar and Dic-tionary" (1864). 2. The Aymaras, probably descended from the high plains about Lake Titi-caca (from the bosom of which Manco-Capac, the founder of the inca dynasty, was said to have risen), are almost surrounded by the Quichuas, but (lifter from them in manners and language. This, though it has many harsh sounds, words, and grammatical forms, is spoken by the descendants of Europeans at La Paz, and by about 400,000 aborigines.

It is rich in many modified expressions (having for instance 12 homonyms of the verb to carry), abounds in postpositions, and has several dialects. There are grammars by L. Bertonio (Rome, 1613) and D. de Torres Rubio (Lima, 1G16). 3. The Atacamas, numbering about 8,000, on the W. slope of the Andes. 4. The Changos, about 1,000, on the Pacific, - On the E. declivity of the Andes, in Bolivia, the Antisian family (so called from the eastern of the three Cordillera ranges, and from which the word Andes is applied to all the ranges) contains five tribes with their own tongues, viz.: the Yuracares (yurac, white, and cari, men), Mocetenes (Chunchos), Tacanas, Maropas, and Apolistas; about 15,000 in all. (Tschudi, Antiguedades Peruanas, Vienna, 1852.) N. W. of Bolivia, on the Uca-yali, are the Panos, who used a sort of hieroglyphics, and the Carapuchos, who seem to bark in speaking. On the pampas of La Plata, drained by the Parana and both Salados, there are about 40 tribes, especially in the forests of Chaco, of which we mention the most prominent. The Abipones, the centaurs of South America, seem to sing their long words; they have a peculiar sound, half r and half g (like the Arabic ghain), and count in their language only as far as three.

The Mbayas (Guaycurus), on the Paraguay, also great horsemen, had an ancient idiom, and speak now the Enacagas, without nasals or gutturals; they have also a woman language (man, for instance, is called hulegre by men, but aguina by women) and castes, and are called Lenguas by the Spaniards. The Moxos, about 13,000, in Bolivia and the Brazilian province of Matto Grosso, have a mild harmonious tongue, many modified forms of verbs, and very few numerals. There is a grammar and vocabulary by P. Marban (Lima, 1701). The Chiquitos, about 15,000, in S. E. Bolivia, near the Argentine Gran Chaco, have many nasal and guttural sounds, the French u, and an idiom for females, as well as a language of etiquette used in addressing God and superiors. - In the vast regions E. of the river Paraguay, and of a line from its sources to the mouth of the Orinoco, thence bounded by the shores of the Atlantic and on the S. by the Plata, there is, so to speak, an archipelago of tongues in the ocean of the Gua-rani family.

In Brazil alone Texeira counted 150 and Spix and Martius 300 tribes, with as many languages; but, as their affinities cannot be determined clearly, owing to the paucity of their consonant elements, it is impossible to know which of them are languages and which are dialects, or merely local idioms. Hervas reports 51 languages as different from theTupi, and 16 as akin to it. This Tupi is one of the three great branches into which the language of the Guaranis is divided, viz.: 1. Eastern Guarani (the lingoa geral, general language of Brazil), which lacks f, l, s, and v, but has German ch, English j, French u (written y) and nasals, Spanish n and ll; also m b, rb, nd, ng. Cases: aba, homo; abaupe, homini; abaki, nomine. There is no plural flexion. The comparative is formed by the suffix ete. Numerals do not go beyond 4, 5 being expressed by the word hand (ambo), 10 by two hands (opacombo), and higher numbers in Spanish. Pronouns: yxa, I, my; nde, thou, thy; ae, he; y, his; oro, we (I and he); yande, we (I and you); pee, you, pe, your. Verbs: a-juca, occido; ere-ju-ca, occidis; o-juca, occidit, etc. Tenses are indicated by adverbs; voices and many kinds of verbs by intercalating particles. There is no substantive verb.