Cacán language
| Cacán | |
|---|---|
| Diaguita–Calchaquí | |
| Kakán | |
| Native to | Northern Argentina and Chile |
| Ethnicity | Diaguita, Calchaquí |
unclassified (Diaguit) | |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | calc1235 Calchaqui |
Cacán (also Cacan, Kakán, Kakana, Calchaquí, Chaka, Diaguita, and Kaka) is a presumably extinct language spoken by the Diaguita and Calchaquí tribes in northern Argentina and Chile. The language was documented in a grammar by the Jesuit Alonso de Bárcena, but the manuscript is lost. Genetic affiliation of the language remains unclear, and it has not been conclusively linked to any existing language family, though past proposals have included a link with Kunza and the essentially unknown Humahuaca.
The name Diaguita is from Cacán tiac-y-ta 'village inhabitant'.