Language loss and language gain across centuries: the history and the dynamics across the Arawak family (original) (raw)

The history of Arawak languages, a major language family in South America and adjacent regions, has been marred with language extinction and loss ever since the European Conquest. The European invasion — starting with Columbus reaching the coast of modern Haiti — the island of Hispaniola, and the location of the Taino, the first Arawak language to come into contact with Europeans in 1492 — resulted in decimation of numerous groups. Hundreds of languages have been irretrievably lost. Many extant languages across the Arawak family are highly endangered. No longer used in most spheres of communication, they face impending obsolescence and loss, under the pressure of larger groups and aggressive national languages. The remarkable diversity of Arawak languages is under threat. A closer look at the development of some extant languages reveals a somewhat different and less depressing picture. Substrata from Arawak languages may have been instrumental in the creation of new ethnolects and varieties of national languages. The world over, younger generations speak differently from older people and show deviations from the traditional norm. Innovative Tariana, from the Vaupés River Basin in north-west Amazonia, is an example of a newly evolving younger people's variety. A new Tariana-Baniwa blended language is on the rise in one village on the Iauiarí river, off the Rio Negro in Brazil. As languages make their way into social media, new genres are on the rise. Across the family, attempts at language reclamation and language regeneration — through joint efforts of language communities, descendants, and linguists — produce novel language varieties. The emergent versions of Taino in the Dominican Republic and the USA are a case in point. How vital are the newly developed varieties? And will they be transmitted across generations? These questions are bound to remain open for now.