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Comparative Studies in Amerindian Languages

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Comparative Studies in Amerindian Languages COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN AMERINDIAN LANGUAGES by ESTHER MATTESON ALVA WHEELER • FRANCES L. JACKSON NATHAN E. WALTZ • DIANA R. CHRISTIAN 1972 MOUTON THE HAGUE • PARIS © Copyright 1972 in The Netherlands Mouton & Co. N.V., Publishers, The Hague No jxtrt of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other incans, without written permission from the jrublishers. L IB R A R Y OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER 71-166147 Printed in Hungary DEDICATION Fifty years ago an Indian asked a question o f a twenty-one year old Senior from Occidental College, on a Bible selling and distribution trip in Central America, “Why doesn’t God speak m y language ?” The fact that the Scriptures were not available to the 250,000 Cakchiquel Indians of Guatemala served to stimulate a program o f pioneer linguistic work in that language. Through his diligent efforts in, less than a decade God c o u l d speak to the Cakchiquel through His Scriptures. This concern for hi9 fellow men wedded to solid scientific endeavor has been effectively shared and passed on to the members of the now world­ wide organization called the Summer Institute of Linguistics with linguisti­ cally trained personnel presently at work in 520 languages in twenty-three countries. It is to this man, WILLIAM CAMERON TOWNSEND Co-founder and General Diroclor that this work is dedicated on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the beginnings of his work among the Indians of thiB hemisphere. CONTENTS Dedication ............................................................................................................. 5 Acknowledgments................................................................................................... 7 Preface, by Clarence E. Church ........................................................................ 9 Abbreviations ........................................................................................................ 13 Part One: Toward Proto Amerindian 1. Toward Proto Amerindian, by Esther Matteson ...................................... 21 Part Two: Comparative Studies in South American Indian Languages 2. Proto Chibchan, by Alva Wheeler ............................................................ 93 3. Proto Mayan, by Frances L. Jaclcson ..................................................... 109 4. Proto Tucanoan, by Nathan E. Waltz and Alva Wheeler 119 5. Proto Guahiban, by Diana R. Christian and Esther Matteson loll 6. Proto Arawakan, by Esther Matteson ..................................................... 160 Bibliography 243 ABBREVIATIONS Families, stocks, and other linguistic groups A Algonkian Ar Arawakan Chib Cliihchan CM, OM Chiapanoc-Mangue, Otomanguean Cur-Man, Ar Curipaco-Maniba, Arawakan ENew Eastern Newiki, Arawakan G Gulf H Hokan Har, Ar Harakbut, Arawakan IZ Isthmus Zapotec, Otomanguean M, G Muskogean, Gulf Mn, OM Mixtecan, Otomanguean My Mayan My-Cp Mayan-Chipayan New, Ar Newiki, Arawakan NM, G Natchez-Muskogean, Gulf OM Otomanguean OP, OM Otopamean, Otomanguean Pan Panoan Pn, OM Popolocan, Otomanguean Q Queohuan S Siouan Tac Tacanan T-G Tupi-Guaianian Tuo Tuoanoan U-A Uto-Aztecan WNew, Ar Western Newiki Languages A, A Arapalio A, OM Amuzgo Amur, AH Amaracaeri Api, (in A pi nay 6 At, G A takapa At, Pan Atsahuucu Ay, y Ay mara B, A Black foot B, Ar Baure BU, Ar Black Carib Bo Bora C, A Cree C, OM Cuicateo Cam CamsA Cae, Pan Cashinahua Cav, Tac Cavinefia Ch, A Cheyenne Ch, OM Chatino Chac, Pan Chaoobo Chan, Pan Chaninahua Chib Chibchan Chi, My Choi Chon, H Chontal of Oaxaca Chon, My Chontal of Tabasco Chr, My Chorti Op, My Chi pay a Cr, G Creek Cub, Tuc Cubeo Cul, Ar Culina D, A Delaware Dea, Tuc Desano Esc, Tac Bse’eja Eas, H Ksselen F, A Fox Gb Guahibo Ginb Guambiano Gn, Tuc Guanano Gr, Ar Guajiro Guar Guarani Gyb, Gb Guayabero H, My Huasteco I, My Ixil J, My Jacalteo Jam, Ar J am am ad i Jic, H Jicaque K, My Kokchf Kar, Van Karipuna Kin, Ar Kinikinao Kog, Chib Kogui Krk, H Karok M, A Menoneme Man, Ar Maniba Mar, Chib Maracascro Mg, Ar Matsiguongu M-SM, OM Mixtec o f San Miguel Mot, Chib Motil6n Mr, Pan Marinawa Ms, G Muskogee Mund, T-G Mundurucu Na/Nt, A Natick Nt, G Natchez Ot, OM Otomi P, Ar Piro Pap, U-A Papago Pia, Ar Piapoco Pm, My Pokomohi Pn, A Penobscot Pw, A Powhatan Q Quechua Key, Tao Reyesano Sal, H Salinana Sh, A Shawnee Sir, T-G Siriond Tac Tacana Ter, Ar Tereno Til, G Tunica Toj, My Tojolabal Ton/Tonk, 11 Tonkawa Tao, My Tsotsil Tun, Chib Tunebo Tz, My Tzeltal Wal, H Walapai Was, H Was ho Wit Witoto/Huitoto (Muinane dialect) Wit-T Witoto of Tanemuca (by Minor) Yue, Ar Yucuna Abbreviations and Affiliations of Arawakan Languages Abbreviation Language Subgroup Amar Amarakaeri PHar Am Amuesha Isolate Ap ApurinA PP-Ap B Baure PShani BC Black Carib Isolate C Campa PAsh Cab Cabiyari PWNow Cul Culina PMadi Cur Curipaco PCur-Man G Guajiro Isolate Jam Jamarnadi PJam-Jar Jar JaruarA PJam-Jar Kin Kinikirmo PShani Man Maniba PCur-Man Mg Machiguenga PAsh Null! Nutuulsiguongu PAsh I* Piro PP-Ap Pal Palicur PENew Par Pared Isolate Pau Paumari PMadi Pia Piapooo PWNew Sap Sapateri PHar Tar Tariano PENew Ter Tereno PShani Wach Wachipayri PHar Yuo Yuouna PWNew Abbreviation Subgroup PA eh Proto Ashaninka PCur-Man Proto Curipaoo-Maniba (See PNew) PENew Proto Eastern Newiki (See PNew) PHar Proto Harakbut PJam-Jar Proto Jamamadi-Jaruard (See PMadi) Proto Madi PNew Proto Newiki PP-Ap Proto Piro-Apurind Proto Sliani PWNew Proto Western Newiki (See PNew) Authors and sources (See a lso bibliography ) Ha: B Bloomfield F Farfdn GE Oramdticas Kstructurales de Lenguas Bolivianos, 1— III. See Institute Lingiifstico do Verano. H Hale Ha Haas Jackson (Ha: M) Michelson Olson Ross de Montaya Ruiz de Montaya, P. Antonio (Ha: S) Siebert Sh Shoemaker V Voegelin General terms c Consonant Cf Compare p Proto • Hoi o f Bolivia -Hr o f Brusil -Hq o f Equadoi* K|) H|H)cieH V vowel V nasal vowel. Transcriptions of various authors have been modified to V for the sake of uniformity. Symbols in the environment o f (referring to the environment in the proto* language) ; else where, in ordered rules in reflex formulas, position of phoneme under discussion with rela­ tion to the conditioning environment in the protolanguage in cita­ tions from the various languages, morpheme division / or . noncontiguous —► is reflected by «— from /ref looting ( ) (1) sequence of phonemes added or lost through phonological con­ ditioning; i.e., without evidence of an optional morpheme; (2) the unique occurrence of a morpheme, or the unique substitu­ tion of one morpheme for another In sections treating the conditioning o f phoneme reflexes, rules are to be applied in the order presented. The absence o f a language name in parentheses following an entry signifies that the formula holds for all languages under discussion, exceptions having preceded the formula. The formula *t ■ ► 6 | i i (PShani) ; t is to be read as follows : *t is reflected by c in PShani w hen both preceded and followed by i ; elsewhere (i.e. all other distributions in PShani, and all distributions in all other languages), t. When in cognate sets part o f a word is italicized and the remainder o f the word is in roman print, only that part of the w'ord in roman print is relevant to the set. An exception is stated in Section 2.5, p. 104. 1. TOWARD PROTO AMERINDIAN ESTHER MATTF.SON 1.1 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate by rigorous application of standard techniques of the comparative method, t h e g e n e t i c relationship o f a WIDE SAMPLING OF GROUPS OF AMERICAN INDIAN LANGUAGES. Proto phonemes are postulated and their reflexes traced through a corpus large enough to reasonably confirm sets o f phonological porrespondences. Similarities in grammatical structure are implied in morpheme divisions of many of the proto words. Although discussed only briefly in this paper, these grammatical resemblances provide considerable material for a comparative study of mor­ phologies. The present comparison includes the following linguistic groups : Algonkian, Gulf (represented largely by Tunica), Hokan (represented by citations from particular languages), Uto-Aztecan, Arawakan, Mayan, Chibchan, Quechuan (represented by citations from particular dialects and/or languages), Guahi- ban, Tucanoan, Witotan (represented mainly by citations from Muinane VVitoto), Boran (represented by citations from Muinane Bora), Tupi-Guara- nian, Tacanan, Panoan, Siouan, and Ge (represented by citations from Api- naye) ; as well as three languages which are isolates or of uncertain classifica­ tions : Paez, Camsa, and Guambiano. The particular list o f language groups treated in this study was determined on the basis o f competently recorded data and reliable reconstructions acces­ sible to me on the field where the study was made. The scope of the paper was further limited by the time allotted for it. No aboriginal American language or family was consciously excluded because of apparent lack of genetic relationship. It may be that unrelated American languages will show up in the future, but none became evident during the investigation. In fact, similarities appeared upon brief inspection to be plentiful in several important groups such as the Curib languages and Eskimo-Aleut, which were not included for lack o f data. Access to libraries was so limited that secondary sources of information (i.e. materials cited by authors other than the linguists who did the field work) had to be utilized extensively, especially in the case o f North American aboriginal languages. On the other hand, an unusually fine corpus of data from field notes of the Summer Institute o f Linguistics staff was available, enhanced by the generous provision by Mary R. Haas, University of Califor­ nia, Berkeley, of a copy o f her personal collection o f Algonkian data and her reconstructions. The recent provision of Proto Tacanan reconstructions by Mary Ritchie Key, and of Panoan reconstructions by Olive Shell helped to complete the chain of evidence required to postulate a Proto Amerindian language.
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