Mochica is an extinct language formerly spoken along the northwest coast of Peru and in an inland village. First documented in 1607, the language was widely spoken in the area during the 17th century and the early 18th century. By the late 19th century, the language was dying out and spoken only by a few people in the village of Etén, in Chiclayo. It died out as a spoken language around 1920, but certain words and phrases continued to be used until the 1960s.^[1]

Mochica is usually considered to be a language isolate,^[2] but has also been hypothesized as belonging to a wider Chimuan language family. Stark (1972) proposes a connection with Uru–Chipaya as part of a Maya–Yunga–Chipayan macrofamily hypothesis.^[3]

The yunga form is mentioned in the work of Fernando de la Carrera, "yunca" is another form mentioned by varieties of Quechua, "muchic" is only mentioned by the Augustinian father Antonio de la Calancha in 1638, in 1892 Ernst Middendorf it germanizes as "muchik", the form "chimu" is a hypothesis on the part of Middendorf in accordance with the knowledge of that time in the 19th century, when he considered Mochica as a language of the Chimos, but which is currently discarded because it is clearly the Quingnam language. An informal group called by linguistics neo-mochica uses the artificial form "muchik", when the most historically used form is "mochica" or "yunga".

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Trumai, Arawak, Kandoshi, Muniche, Barbakoa, Cholon-Hibito, Kechua, Mapudungun, Kanichana, and Kunza language families due to contact. Jolkesky (2016) also suggests that similarities with Amazonian languages may be due to the early migration of Mochica speakers down the Marañón and Solimões.^[4]

It is proven and accepted by linguists that it was spoken by those of the Sican culture, it is not proven that it was spoken by those of the Moche culture, and it is ruled out that it was spoken by the chimos, since it is proven that they spoke Quingnam.

The only varieties are according to each researcher who compiled their vocabulary, so we have the variety of Ernst Middendorf, Compañon, Bruning, etc.

According to the list of the vicar of Reque and author of the aforementioned Art, Fernando de la Carrera, the peoples who in 1644 spoke the Mochica language were as follows:

• In the corregimiento of Trujillo: James, Magdalene of Cao, Chocope, Chicama valley, Paijan.
• In the corregimiento of Saña: St. Peter of Lloc, Chepen, Jequetepeque, Guadalupe, New Town, Eten, Chiclayo, St. Michael, St. Lucia, Parish of Saña, Lambayeque with four rooms, Reque, Monsefú, Ferreñafe, Tucum, Illimo, Pacora, Morrope and Jayanca.
• In the corregimiento of Piura: Motupe, Salas (annex of Penachi), Copis (annex of Olmos), Frías and Huancabamba.
• In the corregimiento of Cajamarca: Santa Cruz, San Miguel de la Sierra, Ñopos, San Pablo, the doctrine of the rafts of the Marañón, a bias of Cajamarca, Cachén, Guambos and many other places in the Cajamarca mountain range, such as the Condebamba valley.^[5]

Mochica is typologically different from the other main languages on the west coast of South America, namely the Quechuan languages, Aymara, and the Mapuche language. Further, it contains rare features such as:

• a case system in which cases are built on each other in a linear sequence; for example, the ablative case suffix is added to the locative case, which in turn is added to an oblique case form;
• all nouns have two stems, possessed and non-possessed;
• an agentive case suffix used mainly for the agent in passive clauses; and
• a verbal system in which all finite forms are formed with the copula.

Some suffixes in Mochica as reconstituted by Hovdhaugen (2004):^[7]

• sequential suffix: -top
• purpose suffix: -næm
• gerund suffixes: -læc and -ssæc
• gerund suffix: -(æ)zcæf
• gerund suffix: -(æ)d

Some examples of lexical items in Mochica from Hovdhaugen (2004):^[7]

The only surviving song in the language is a single tonada, Tonada del Chimo, preserved in the Codex Martínez Compañón among many watercolours illustrating the life of Chimú people during the 18th century:

1st voice: Ja ya llũnch, ja ya llõch
Ja ya llũnch, ja ya lloch [sic]
In poc cha tanmuisle pecan muisle pecan e necam

2nd voice: Ja ya llũnch, ja ya llõch
Ja ya llũnch

1st voice: E menspocehifama le qui
ten que consmuiſle Cuerpo lens
e menslocunmunom chi perdonar moitin Roc

2nd voice: Ja ya llõch
Ja ya llũnh,[sic] ja ya llõch

1st voice: Chondocolo mec checje su chriſto
po que si ta mali muis le cuer po[sic] lem.
lo quees aoscho perdonar
me ñe fe che tas

2nd voice: Ja ya llũnch, ja ya llõch
Ja ya llũnch, ja ya llõch

— ^[8]

Quingnam, possibly the same as Lengua (Yunga) Pescadora, is sometimes taken to be a dialect, but a list of numerals was discovered in 2010 and is suspected to be Quingnam or Pescadora, not Mochica.

It was common in the 19th century to relate Mochica mainly to Mandarin, Japanese^[9] and Quechua^[10]. Currently it is discarded and is considered an isolated language^[11]. A simple way to check this is to use its our fathers for comparative linguistic purposes:

The Gestión de Cultura of Morrope in Peru has launched a program to learn this language, in order to preserve the ancient cultural heritage in the area. This program has been well received by people and adopted by many schools, and also have launched other activities such as the development of ceramics, mates, etc.

• Brüning, Hans Heinrich (2004). Mochica Wörterbuch / Diccionario mochica: Mochica-castellano, castellano-mochica. Lima: Universidad San Martín de Porres.
• Hovdhaugen, Even (2004). Mochica. Munich: LINCOM Europa.
• Schumacher de Peña, G. (1992). El vocabulario mochica de Walter Lehmann (1929) comparado con otras fuentes léxicas. Lima: UNSM, Instituto de Investigación de Lingüística Aplicada.