ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Chibcha language

Okay, so let's talk about the Chibcha language which was spoken by a group of people who lived a very long time ago in what is now Colombia, South America. This language was really important to the Chibcha people because it was a way for them to communicate with each other and share their thoughts and ideas.

Now, languages are made up of words and sounds, just like the way we talk. So, if we want to speak Chibcha, we need to know what their words and sounds were like. But we also need to understand that their language was different from ours.

For example, in English, we have a letter called "Q" that makes a sound like "kw". But in Chibcha, they didn't have that letter, so they used other letters to make that same sound.

Another thing that makes Chibcha unique is that they didn't use a lot of words to express their ideas. Instead, they used what's called "morphemes" which are small building blocks of language that can be put together to make bigger words.

Say, for example, you wanted to say "I am riding my bike". In English, we have to use three separate words to say that. But in Chibcha, they could use just one word that combines three different morphemes to mean the same thing!

So, in short, the Chibcha language was an important way for people to communicate with each other a very long time ago. It was unique because it used different sounds and building blocks to create words, and helped people express their ideas in a very efficient way.