Broad-scale patterns across the languages of the Andes and Amazonia (original) (raw)

Cultural Phylogenetics of the Tupi Language Family in Lowland South America

Background Recent advances in automated assessment of basic vocabulary lists allow the construction of linguistic phylogenies useful for tracing dynamics of human population expansions, reconstructing ancestral cultures, and modeling transition rates of cultural traits over time. Methods Here we investigate the Tupi expansion, a widely-dispersed language family in lowland South America, with a distance-based phylogeny based on 40-word vocabulary lists from 48 languages. We coded 11 cultural traits across the diverse Tupi family including traditional warfare patterns, post-marital residence, corporate structure, community size, paternity beliefs, sibling terminology, presence of canoes, tattooing, shamanism, men's houses, and lip plugs. Results/Discussion The linguistic phylogeny supports a Tupi homeland in west-central Brazil with subsequent major expansions across much of lowland South America. Consistently, ancestral reconstructions of cultural traits over the linguistic phylogeny suggest that social complexity has tended to decline through time, most notably in the independent emergence of several nomadic hunter-gatherer societies. Estimated rates of cultural change across the Tupi expansion are on the order of only a few changes per 10,000 years, in accord with previous cultural phylogenetic results in other language families around the world, and indicate a conservative nature to much of human culture.

Different histories, different results: the origin and development of two Amazonian languages

2011

Tupinambá, a member of branch III of the Tupi-Guarani linguistic family of the Tupi linguistic stock (Rodrigues 1984/ 1985) is-in so far as it is known-the only Brazilian indigenous language that has had an important role in the development of two Amazonian languages, namely Kokáma/ Omágua and Amazonian Língua Geral or Nheengatú. These are two languages that originated in contact situations and, even though having Tupinambá in common as a source language, have become typologically different in several aspects due to the peculiarities of the social histories of their speakers. With regard to Kokáma/Omágua, there are three concurring hypotheses on its origin: (a) it is simply another language of the Tupi-Guarani genetic family, (b) it is a descendant of the Amazonian Língua Geral, or (c) it developed from contact between speakers of Tupinambá and speakers of other languages, including an Arawakan one, and is not the continuity of any particular language. With regard to the Amazonian Língua Geral, some scholars treat it as a creole language, but to others it is a continuation of Tupinambá spoken outside the indigenous villages, subjected to external influences over the course of time. In this paper I present arguments in favor of the different development possibilities of both Kokáma/Omágua and Amazonian Língua Geral, taking into account aspects of 1 I am thankful to Gabriel Antunes de Araujo and Margarida Petter for having invited me to present a paper on Amazonian languages and linguistic contact at the 5 th ABECS meeting, as well as to Prof. Aryon D. Rodrigues for his criticism and suggestions, which was particularly important for me since he is the most well versed scholar of the linguistic history of the Tupi stock of languages. ANA SUELLY ARRUDA CÂMARA CABRAL 10 the social history of the respective speakers, as well as lexical and grammatical features of each of the two languages.

Expansions and language shift in prehistory [Language families of the Andes: Quechua and Aymara]

The Oxford Guide to the Languages of the Central Andes, 2023

This chapter reviews the wide range of hypotheses on the origins and dispersal phases of the main expansive language lineages of the Andes, especially Aymara and Quechua. It assesses these hypotheses not just in linguistic terms, but with respect to the archaeological and emerging genetic records, too, to help judge which scenarios seem most plausible. Essential background is that the Andean context-environmental and cultural-is marked by a range of idiosyncrasies. These may have helped shape language expansions here (and much else) in ways that need not match how languages spread in many other parts of the world. Topography and elevation in the Andes, for instance, are reflected in different ecologies, and in some cases also in different social structures and ethnolinguistic identities. How far could this have affected how languages dispersed, in patterns that were either geographically continuous or highly fragmented? Why did detectable major language family expansions only begin relatively late in the trajectory of Andean civilisation, leaving much underlying linguistic diversity still showing through, even into early colonial times? And how, in these contexts, did the major language dispersals proceed in the Andes: by demographic or by cultural mechanisms, or by which complex combinations of both? Certainly, the corollary of the major dispersals was the extinction of many other indigenous language lineages, as their speaker populations progressively shifted language to the successful, expanding ones. For Aymara and particularly Quechua, this talk reviews the history and logic of hypotheses on their expansion (pre)histories over the last sixty years. It concludes with the radically different proposals advanced over the last decade or so, not least in the last few years, which constitute a revolution with respect to the traditional Torero hypothesis for Andean linguistic prehistory, and have repercussions also for our understanding of the Quechua 'family tree'.

Language contact, and language blend: Kumandene Tariana of north-west Amazonia

The Vaupés River Basin in north-west Amazonia is a well-established linguistic area characterised by obligatory multilingualism and exogamy based on linguistic allegiance. The core members of the area who take part in the multilingual marriage network are speakers of East Tucanoan languages and of one Arawak language, Tariana. The impact of East Tucanoan influence on Tariana is recognizable through structural diffusion. Two dialects of Tariana are currently spoken. Wamiarikune Tariana (W-Tariana), with a few speakers in the middle Vaupés area, is highly endangered; it is under strong pressure of Tucano. Kumandene Tariana (K-Tariana), also endangered, is spoken in the community of Santa Terezinha on the Iauarí river (tributary of the Lower Vaupés). The K-Tariana moved to their present location from Iauaretê on the middle Vaupés two generations ago, escaping pressure from Catholic missionaries. The K-Tariana intermarry with the Baniwa Hohôdene, speakers of a closely related language, now the major language in their village. Over the past fifty years, speakers of K-Tariana have acquired numerous Baniwa features. This can be seen through comparison with older sources on this dialect. At present, the degree of Baniwa impact on Kumandene Tariana varies depending on the speaker, and on the audience. The result is a curious language blend. We discuss the status of K-Tariana in the context of other blended, or 'merged' languages.

50 Amazonia: linguistic history

The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration, 2013

The language families of Amazonia offer a history of great complexity, albeit with much evidence erased by the spread of Spanish and Portuguese. Homelands for the six major families and some aspects of their migration histories are suggested. Over 300 languages are currently spoken in the Amazon basin. The six major lin guistic families are Arawak, Tupí, Carib, Panoan, Tucanoan, and MacroJê (Figure 50.1). There are also many smaller families and isolates. Over 60 percent of indige nous languages are estimated to have become extinct since the European conquest (Loukotka 1968; Dixon & Aikhenvald 1999a; Adelaar 2004; Aikhenvald 2012: 1-19), making the task of revealing the exact linguistic history of Amazonia truly daunting. Various attempts have been made, during the past two centuries, to group different families into macrogroupings or "stocks," but none have a solid backing of consistent proof. Examples are the putative "Amerind," and an "Arawakan" claimed to encompass Arawak proper (or Maipuran), Arawá, Chapacura, Guahiboan, and UruPuquina (Aikhenvald 1999). Linguistic diversity and migrations The Amazon basin displays a high degree of phylogenetic diversity, that is, a high number of nondemonstrably related linguistic groups. The region also scores highly in terms of diversity of linguistic structures and in the sheer number of languages or linguistic varieties still spoken, or formerly spoken.

Language Classification, Language Contact, and Amazonian Prehistory

Language and Linguistics Compass, 2009

The linguistic map of Amazonia presents a startling jumble of languages and language families. While some families – most notably Carib, Arawak, Macro-Jê, and Tupí– are distributed widely throughout the region, their spread is interspersed with many dozens of tiny, localized families and language isolates, particularly in the Amazonian periphery. At the same time, distributions of lexical, grammatical, and phonological features suggest that this linguistic patchwork is overlaid in places by contact regions, where multilingualism has fostered lexical and/or structural resemblances among languages. This complex distribution of languages and linguistic features presents many challenges to our understanding of Amazonian prehistory. How did Amazonia's language families arrive at their present distribution? Why did some families spread over huge distances, while others came to occupy only tiny geographical pockets or are limited to a single language? What kinds of interactions among peoples led to the formation of contact zones, and how are these regions defined? Complicating these questions further is the fact that very little is known about many Amazonian languages, and relationships among them are in many cases a matter of conjecture. This article surveys our current understanding of language classification and language contact in Amazonia, and addresses various perspectives concerning the implications of these relationships for Amazonian prehistory.

A contribution to the linguistic history of the língua geral amazônica

Alfa : Revista de Linguística (São José do Rio Preto), 2011

This paper demonstrates that the changes undergone by Língua Geral Amazônica over 300 years, although it had been exposed to external interference from the Portuguese language and a number of indigenous languages, its development has been gradual without a breakdown on its transmission. This accounts for its genetic origin, according to the principles underlying the Comparative Method and the theoretical model proposed by Thomason and Kaufman (1988). This approach brings evidence against the claim that Língua Geral Geral Amazônica is a creole language neither a language developed by the seventeenth century Jesuit missionaries. Therefore, this paper contributes to the viewing of Língua Geral Amazônica is a version of the Tupinambá language which developed outside the Tupinambá villages but maintaining its genetic relations with the subbranch III of the Tupí-Guaraní linguistic family, together with Tupinambá, Tupí Antigo and the Língua Geral Paulista, as proposed by Rodrigues (1985), ...