The Shuar, Achuar, Shiwiar, Wampis and Awajun pertain to the “CHICHAM” linguistic group, historically considered by the scientific world as Jivaroan, a term that the speakers don’t recognize.

The Shuar, the Achuar, the Shiwar, the Huambisa and the Aguaruna have been considered overall as much a linguistic “island” as a “family”. In fact, from a purely linguistic point of view, we can talk of “ethno-linguistic dialects” rather than “languages” (Gnerre, 2009).

The five “ethno-linguistic dialects” mentioned, or at least the four most northern ones: the Shuar, the Achuar, the Shiwiar and the Huambisa, have so few differences that it would be enough to indicate the lexical differences and the rare morphological and syntactic differences. It is without a doubt the Aguaruna that presents a clear contrast with the other four dialects mentioned above, in regards to clear differences in its phonology and some aspects of its morphology (Gnerre, 2009).