LINGUISTIC AND ARCHEOLOGICAL TIME DEPTH IN THE WEST INDIES DOUGLASTAYLOR DOMINICA,B.W.I. AND IRVING ROUSE

YALE UNIVERSITY

0. Introduction teenth century tell us that the same language 1. Time depth of Island Carib was spoken in all the islands then inhabited 2. Archeological correspondences by this people; from which we may at least conclude that dialectal differences were not 0. In a recent on "Time symposium so great as to preclude mutual intelligibility. of American Depth Linguistic Groupings," At the end of the eighteenth century this Swadeshl a date for the published separation language was taken to Central America by of the Dominican and Lokono of languages some five thousand 'Black Carib' deportees; the Arawakan stock based on a word count and is spoken there today by about six times by Taylor. The following is a revision of this that number of individuals.4 In the Lesser date and a consideration of its by Taylor (1) Antilles it lingered on only in St. Vincent Rouse to- archeological significance by (2), and Dominica, where it became extinct with some discussion of the gether question about 1920. Apart from the modern Central of into the which de- migrations Antilles, American dialect, only two records of this as a of the veloped by-product dating language are known to be extant: one, fairly problem. full, dating from the middle of the seven- teenth the 1. It is here assumed-but can, I am con- century;5 other, very sketchy, from the end of the nineteenth vinced, be proved-that the language of the century; both made in Dominica.6 historical, so-called Island Carib is Ara- the Dominican dialect - wakan, and almost as closely related to Phonetically, even in its most recent much Lokono or True Arawak of the present time stage-was as is Roumanian to French.2 It is further closer to modern Lokono than is that spoken the Black and for assumed that this language is a continuation by present-day Caribs; that reason I at first it when seek- of the one spoken by the 'Igneri' or pre- employed to estimate means of lexical statistics Carib-conquest inhabitants of the Lesser ing by the of time that must have Antilles, whose womenfolk were spared, ac- length elapsed since Lokono and Island Carib were one and cording to seventeenth-century tradition the same there are and in all likelihood, to become wives of the language. However, conquerors and mothers of subsequent 4Douglas Taylor, The Black Carib of British generations of 'Island Caribs.'3 French mis- Honduras, VFPA 17 (1951). 6 sionaries writing in the middle of the seven- Raymond Breton, Dictionaire Caraibe- Frangois..., 6dition facsimile Jules Platzmann 1 Morris Swadesh, Time Depth of American (Leipzig, 1892); Dictionaire Frangois-Caraibe ..., LinguisticGroupings, AA 56.361-4(1954). edition facsimile Jules Platzmann (Leipzig, 1900); 2 C. H. de Goeje, Nouvel examen des langues and Grammaire Caraibe suivie du cat6chisme des Antilles .. ., JSAP31.1-20 (1939); reviewed by Caraibe, nouvelle edition, L. Adam et Ch. Leclerc Taylorin IJAL 17.257-9(1951). (Paris, 1878). 3Douglas Taylor, Diachronic Note on the 6 Joseph Numa Rat, The Carib Language as Carib Contributionto Island Carib, IJAL 20.28- now spoken in Dominica, West Indies, JRAI 33 (1954). 27.293-315 (1898). 105

This content downloaded from 129.252.86.83 on Sun, 25 Oct 2015 18:24:40 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 106 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AMERICAN LINGUISTICS VOL. XXI several disadvantages in using an extinct ably Lokono) has a number of different language for such a purpose; one cannot terms whose employment depends on possibly obtain a word missing from the whether the cutting is done with a knife, record, or decide which of two apparent scissors, an ax, etc. synonyms was the commoner. So, for ex- As Swadesh8 has been careful to point ample, confronted with the item fall of out, the results that have already been ob- Swadesh's basic word-list, I could find tained from lexico-statistical dating, al- nothing in the record of recent Dominican though distinctly encouraging, must still to match with Lokono atikida; while be regarded as provisional in greater or Breton's seventeenth-century dictionaries lesser degree. So far as languages with little offered an embarrassing wealth of different or no written history are concerned, there equivalents employed in different contexts, appears to be a real danger of over-estimat- among which two seemed to be equally ing time-depths through failure to recognize 'basic': aikua and atikera. So that, although actual cognates as such. For it cannot be the latter is obviously cognate with the supposed that the Indo-European family Lokono word, this item had to be dropped of languages is unique in containing such from the list because there was no indication divergent products of phonetic change as that it was the commoner of the two, or (Russian: English) jazik: tongue, or (Eng- differed from the former in meaning, as for lish : French) sew : coudre, blow : souffler, example tumble differs from drop. Since the or (English : Spanish) eat : comer. Yet the living dialect offers only one word, 6igua, student of an American Indian linguistic this item has been included in the list, and family rarely has any knowledge of such scores a MINUS. 'links' as Latin consuere, connecting sew Nevertheless, instead of a cognate ratio with coudre; Latin com-edere, connecting of 62/146, as reported by Swadesh,7 I now eat with comer. Lokono : Dominican Island get a ratio of 72/154, or 46.75%, which Carib my father dati : nukusili look even indicates a time depth of 18 (instead of 21) less like cognates than when nuguci of the modern American is substi- centuries. The English words whose Lokono Central dialect tuted for the latter t : s for the and Island Carib equivalents are matched word; yet former and t: c for the latter dialect are all appear in one or another of Swadesh's attested in some other cases, such as dig test-lists; but as these call for 200 items, atika : asika : while the former corre- and as Lokono data are still not aciga; abundant, from related I have included some items that do not spondence suggests borrowing Goajiro, in which s regularly corresponds appear in all of them. Even so, I can match to Lokono t. According to Hickerson, Lo- only 186 pairs; and for greater precaution kono has a morpheme -ku- consanguineal 32 of these have been queried and omitted elder; and the Island Carib forms meaning from the count. Such precaution seems ad- father, mother, and grandfather almost cer- visable wherever the evidence for cognation tainly contain this morpheme in a fossilized remains inconclusive one way or another, state. Similarly, the pair fly amoroda : aha- and wherever there is uncertainty as to mara are seen to be cognate only when usage. So, for example, apart from the pair to am4hara of the Dominican vomit ereda : I can find no compared fly eu6ra, support both the latter as for the existence of an r : u dialect, having hamq- correspondence, stem alternant. though there is plenty of proof that d: r To judge by the records of Daniel Brin- is regular; while in such a case as that of 8 Morris and the words for cut, Island Carib (and prob- Swadesh, Archeological Linguistic Chronology of Indo-European Groups, AA 55.349- 7 Swadesh, op. cit., p. 362. 52 (1953).

This content downloaded from 129.252.86.83 on Sun, 25 Oct 2015 18:24:40 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions TIME DEPTH IN THE WEST INDIES 107 ton,9 de Goeje,10 and Hickerson," Lokono gests that the final -ho and -ru of (Lokono: (True Arawak) exhibits a rather high degree Island Carib) taho: fitaru rope were once of phonetic instability, so far as this com- suffixes, and that these words are cognate. paratively short and recent period is The resemblance of the Island Carib forms concerned. So, for two, the first and second meaning father (-guci) and mother (-gucu) of these authors give biama, but the third to one another makes it likely that Lokono has bian ~ biani-; for three the first gives -io mother resulted from the weakening of kabuhin, the second kabuin, and the third older *-tio, more closely paralleling Lokono kabun N kabuni-; for four the first has -ti father; and that if so, also Lokono : Island both bibuti and bibiti, the second bibiti Carib ioio: d6do- wet are cognate, and come alone, and the third bibiti - biti - bis-. from older *tiotio. If I had to reduce the The personal pronouns are given by Brinton number of queried pairs omitted from the - as dakia dai I, bokia - bui thou, likia count, I should score a PLUS against those he, turreha she, uakia - uai we, hukia meaning hold, left, man, mother, old, rain, hui ye, nakia - nai they; and by Hickerson root, rope, sky, snake, suck, vomit, wet, worm; as dai, bui, lira, tora, uaiko, hui, naira. a MINUS against those meaning cut, fruit, Brinton's -piru corresponds to -firo, mean- fur, guts, knee, near, short, thin, walk, when; ing big or strong, of both de Goeje and and leave the query against those meaning Hickerson; the word for blood is given by earth, hot, hunt, I, if, in, not, what. This de Goeje as ite, but by Hickerson as utu. would raise the cognate ratio to 86/178, or Brinton tells us that 'from kasan to be 48.3 %, which indicates a reduction of some pregnant' (cf. -sa - osa child) 'comes kasaku 75 years in the time depth. It seems to me the firmament, big with all things which unlikely that further data will reveal a are, and kasahu behu the house of the firma- percentage of cognates much higher than ment, the sky, the day.' This last phrase these last figures; but even in the improbable renders highly plausible a relationship event of all the doubtful pairs proving to between modern Lokono kasakabo day and be cognate, we would still have to reckon Island Carib ubeku > ub6hu > ub6u sky that these two languages had been diverging or clouds (the first form attested from early for the past 13 centuries. Dominican, and the last two from the Cen- By substituting the early Dominican for tral American dialect of, respectively, one the modern Central American dialect, a hundred years ago and today). Nor has cognate ratio of 79/154 is obtained; seven Island Carib always been much more more agreements are registered (bird ulibin, conservative, to judge by the (early Dom- five uakabu apurku, four bi4buri, grass inican: modern Central American) corre- kalau, husband iraiti, alive kako-, and person spondence, binalepule: binafi morning; al- ilaku), the items meaning guts and hunt though here a lapse of three hundred years each score a MINUS, and those meaning and a change of habitat are involved. dust and fall must be queried. When the Evidence for the cognation of some of difference in dates is taken into account, the rejected pairs, though inconclusive, is this reduces the time depth found for the not lacking. So, Taino da-guita my rope modern dialect by less than half a century. (in which the g is probably a dummy) sug- By using recent Dominican in the same way, 9 Daniel Brinton, The Arawack Language of three more agreements are registered (four Guiana in its Linguistic and Ethnological Rela- bi4buri, grass karau, husband irAiti), but tions, APS-T, 14.427-44 (1871). the number of pairs matched is considerably 10 C. H. de Goeje, The Arawak Language of reduced through lack of data, which prob- Guiana 1928). (Amsterdam, ably accounts for the time depth of 21 cen- LNancy P. Hickerson, Ethnolinguistic Notes from Lexicons of Lokono (Arawak), IJAL 19.181- turies as reported by Swadesh. It is perhaps 90 (1953). Also in personal communication. superfluous to add that the absence of

This content downloaded from 129.252.86.83 on Sun, 25 Oct 2015 18:24:40 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 108 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AMERICAN LINGUISTICS VOL. XXI cognate pairs of words with the same mean- Should this view be correct, it would ing does not necessarily imply the absence follow that the separation of Igneri and of cognates in the two languages; so, for Lokono preceded that of Taino and Lokono; example, Lokono kudibiu bird and C. A. so that Igneri and Taino could not then Island Carib guribiua sp. of bird (unidenti- possibly be recently diversified forms of fied), Lokono ibitua bum and Island Carib one and the same parent tongue. Unfortu- 6beda kindle, Lokono iribe- dirty and Island nately, the extant Taino vocabulary is too Carib iribi soot, Lokono buin whole and meagre, the transcription too erratic, and Island Carib buj full. the given meanings too uncertain to offer One apparently unrelated pair of words, much help in this respect. Nevertheless, (Lokono: Island Carib) dakia - dai: nu- comparison of the following Taino items gdia I, is of particular interest for the pre- (with, so far as possible, the spelling found history of the Antilles. Mason tells us that in the sources) with their Lokono and Island in Arawakan languages 'the first person Carib equivalents shows more agreements pronoun is usually nu, whence the generic with Lokono (and with Goajiro) than with name Nu-Arawak'; whereas Lokono has Island Carib of either dialect or period. So, dakia dai (and affixial dA- and -da, vs. the forms meaning I, know, man, stone, three Island Carib nV- and -na), Goajiro has agree only with Lokono, those meaning taya (and tA-), and Taino has variously dog and woods only with Island Carib, spelt dacha, daga, daca (and dA-). These while that meaning four agrees with Lokono latter forms (those beginning with an apical and with the Dominican dialect of Island stop) would therefore appear to be innovat- Carib only. black xey-, breast too, dog aon ing as compared with the former (beginning (also: alco), ear -rique-, eye -aco, good with n), among which are those of far-away tayno, I dacha (or daga or daca), know Campa (nu) and Amesha (na'). Moreover, ita, man guaxeri (cf. Goajiro ha?i'i man), it is difficult to see how either Taino or one hequeti, say ahia-, see oca-, skin -ra, Igneri and Island Carib forms meaning I, stone cibe, tooth -ahi-, two yamoca, four me, my could have been borrowed after yamoncobre, rope -guita, sea bagua, sky migration to the Antilles (as speakers of turey, three canocum, woods arcobuco. English borrowed they, them, their from The name for the Tainos' ceremonies, Scandinavian), since the Taino were sepa- areito, which those who witnessed them rated from other da-speakers by the Igneri described as 'bailar cantando,' may be or Island Carib, and the latter from other compared with Goajiro air0ha to sing. nu-speakers by the Lokono. And if, as Taino higuera calabash (Crescentia cujete), seems likely, they were inherited, it is with which compare Lokono iuida, Island reasonable to assume for the linguistic Carib uira (with the same meaning), prob- forbears of Lokono, Goajiro, and Taino a ably contains the Taino word for fruit period of common development in which (cf. Lokono iui fruit) in composition with those of the Igneri and Island Carib had the stem meaning skin (-ra in Taino, -da no part. Compare: in Lokono), or with that meaning tree or wood (also -da in Lokono, but unattested Taino Lokono for Taino); although the Island Carib word I dA- dacha, dakia, dA- was not even in the earliest we uA- analyzable guA- uakia, recorded dialect. he nV- likia, 1V- This seems to that the Antilles Goajiro IslandCarib imply were two distinct of I taya, tA- nugdia, nV- peopled by migrations we waya, wA- uagfa, uA- different Arawakan tribes. If the Igneri he nia, nV- ligfa, 1V- came first, we may presume that this

This content downloaded from 129.252.86.83 on Sun, 25 Oct 2015 18:24:40 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions TIME DEPTH IN THE WEST INDIES 109 people left the mainland some time during MINUS, although de Goeje lists obviously the first three centuries of this era; to be cognate uima - uma - ema with the same followed about 700 years later by the Taino. meaning. That the former, and not the In this case, it seems unnecessary to assume latter, is the ordinary Lokono term is clear that any 'conquest' or fighting took place from two recordings cited by Brinton, the at that time; for in 1635 the Island Carib one (dalerocke my mouth) dated 1598, and of St. Vincent allowed two shiploads of the other (daliroko my mouth) dated 1800. escaped African slaves to settle in a part In a few instances, however, Hickerson's of their country, where they long continued form has been rejected, as in the case of her to be joined by fugitives from neighboring -doli root. De Goeje also lists this last form, islands; and it is by the descendants of these but gives it the special meaning of 'racine Negroes that the only surviving dialect of tuberculeuse' (which Island Carib -ilagola Island Carib is spoken today. But the Taino, does not have), as opposed to ekura root, as new comers, would have been expected vein, nerve, which tallies semantically with to 'move on' if and when increase of popula- the Island Carib. This is one of the items tion rendered means of subsistence scarce. which I have thought better to omit from Thus they would have remained a minority, the count. and have been gradually assimilated by the In the following word list, the Lokono Igneri in the smaller, more southerly forms follow the English, and are followed islands; while in such a comparatively large by those of the C.A. dialect of Island Carib. island as Porto Rico they would have come all -makua: s4(gubai) (-), and kena: to outnumber and assimilate the few Igneri -(ima (-), animal iliki-n: il6go-ni (+), that may have preceded them thither before arm -duna: ar6na (+), ash balisi: baligi any pressure of population was felt. (+), back -iabo: -anag4 (-), bad uakaia-: If, on the other hand, the Taino were the uriba- (-), bark (ada) uda : t-dra (u6ue) first to leave the mainland, I doubt (on (+), because -doma : -rdma (+), belly account of the apparent time-depths be- -dibeio: -urigai (-), big fi-ro : uAiri (-), tween the languages concerned) whether bird kudibiu: duniru (-), bite akota: this could have been much earlier than agora (+), black karime-: uri- (-), blood A.D. 600, or much later than A.D. 1000. utu: h-ita-o (+), blow afudi- : a-fu-ra (+), And in this case, the Igneri must have bone -bona-ho: -Abu (+), breast -odio: followed rather closely on their heels, and -dri (+), breatheahakobu- : auara-gua (-), chased them into the Greater Antilles; for burn ibitua: A-guda (-), child ilon-/iren-: geographic distribution of the languages irAho (+), claw -obada: -ibara (+), cloud then compels us to assume a 'conquest' of ororo: ub6u (-), cold meme: dili- (-), the Lesser Antilles by the Igneri, since it is come anda: (n)i6b(u)i (-). unlikely that the Taino should have al- cut aroka / asoka : ibiha / Acuga (?), dark lowed themselves to be 'assimilated' or have bura- : buri- (+), day kasakabo : u6iu (-), given up their old homes to the new comers die ahoda: a-hila-ra (+), dig atika : a-ciga without a struggle. Moreover, this second, (+), dirty iribe- : ue- (-), dog pero: &nli alternative solution raises yet another (-), down onabu / abomun : 6nabu / -abu- problem,-that concerning the separation, giQ (+), drink ata: &ta (+), dry uato: long before any Arawakan migration to the m&bai- (-), dull (not sharp) ma-mana-: islands, between Igneri and the common ma-mina- (+), dust akumuiu: t-ife mida progenitor of Lokono, Goajiro, and Taino. (-), ear -diki: arigai (+), earth uaia: mia In general, Hickerson's Lokono forms (?), eat eke: Aiga (+), egg karinasa: g4i have been preferred; so (Lokono: Island (-), eye akusi: agu (+), fall atikida: Carib) mouth -leroko: -idma scores a Aigua (-), far taha: dise (-), father -ti:

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-guci (?), fear hamaroka-: -anifude (-), 6ma '-' -6me-ni (-), root ekura / doll: feather -bara : t-uba'na (dun?iru) (-), few ilagoIA-o(?), rope taho fitaru (?), rotten kabun :m-fbe (-), fight afara : a-gA-i4-da- toro / kolo : nija- (-). saliva uraroni: gua (-), finger akabo ibira 1-irAo-iihabu ar6re-i (+), salt pamo: salu (-), sand (+t). motoko: sagai ( say adia-: er4ga fire hikihi : uAtu (-), fish hime: Adu- (-- ariaga) (+). rao (-), five aba dakabo: sego (-), sea bara : barAna/ barAua see flesh isiroko : 6gorogo (+), flower koro-ho: adoka : ariha (+), seed -si : -j / -ila (-), ileue (-), fly amorodla: Ahamara (+), sew akosa : Ahoca-gua (+), sharp ka- foot -koti : ugfidi (+), four bibuti, bibiti mana- :ga-mAna- (+), short baseken-/ biti --' bis-: gAdoro (-), fruit iui h-I (?), auka-: d4- / lAugua- (?), sit abalta : niuru- fur -iti : h-lu (?), give isika : Iciga (+), good i4 (-), skin uda :ira-o (+), sky ka- osa : buldu (-), grass karau : sagAdi (-), sa-hu behu : ub6u / si6lu (?), sleep adonka grease kihi :ag6lei (+), green imoro- : uri- ar4amuga (+), small sioko : ni6-rao- (-), gi- (-), guts -ite : -isa (?), hair -bara smell adimisa : irimica (+), snake uri : 6ui / idiburi (-), hand okabo :Thabu (+), he h6ue (?), some aba-no : -ibiri (-), stand likia / lira ligia (+), head isi icigo adinama : rArama-(-),star uiua : uariguma ic6go (+), hear akanaba:. ag4ba (+), heart (-), stick (N) ada : u6ue (-), stone siba oasini: anigi (-), heavy kudu- : h6ro- (+), d6bu (-), straight misi- : surti- (-), suck here ia-ha : ii(-ha) (+), hit aboroka: ifara atuku- / asoroto- : su- / sura- (?), sun ha- dali : u6iu (-), tail ihi : ill (+), thattora / hold abokota Agoda (?), hot tere: hAra lira : tmra/ lira (+), thereiara : iAra (+), (?), how halika- ida -i4 (-), hunt aioka: they nakia -,' nai / naira : hagia (+). Aibaha, a-gA-liru-ha (?), husband ireti: thick tibo- : duri- (-), thin uakara/ i5mari (-), I dakia ' dai: nugiia (-), bili- ibibie- (?), think ikisika: arlta-gua if -faroka' Ah4- (?), in oloko: -1d4 / lla-o (cp. Lokono know), this to / li: t6a / 16a (?), kill afara : Afara (+), knee -kuru : -gAi- (+), thou bukia --' bui: bugiiia (+), three corogo (?), know aita / adita : a-sibudi-ra kabuhin, kabuin, kabun -' kabuni- : 6rua (-), leaf, -bana: -ubAna (?), left -baro : (-), throw aboreda : hut- ^-' ful- / a-c6-ra -ubAuna (?), leg -dana : -(iruna (+), lip (-), tie akora:?Agora (+; Agorabite and -leroko: -iumAru (-), alive kake- : n-ibA- Agora tie have as free stems gro and gra ga-i (-), liver -bana : -ubAna (+), long respectively), tongue -ie: -j6je (+), tooth uadik- :migife- (-), louse ie : je-j (+), arin:A(n), tree ada : u6ue (-), two man uadili: ei6ri (?), many ioho: g-ibe biama, bian -, biani- :biama ^- bia () moon kati : hAti (+), mother-io -gucu up aiomun: Iu (+), vomit ereda eu6ra / (?), mountain fororo : u6bu (-), mouth eu6reha (?), walk aiahadi- / akona : Aibuga -leroko / -noroko : -idima (-). (?), wash asokosa : a-ciba (-), water oniabo, name iri: fri (+), near -erebu: -riigabu uini: d(na (-), we uakia '- uai, uaiko: (?), neck -noro: -igina (-), night oriko: uagia (+), weep aia-: aiAhua (+), wet Ariabu (+), nose -siri : igiri (+), not ma-/ ioio : d6do- (?), what hama: 4, ka (?), koro: ma- / mAma (?), old uahadu- / when halika : Ida-, Ah4- (?), where halun: hebe- : uwi-ha- (?), one aba : Abtl -' Abana halia (+), white hanira : harii- (-), who (+), person loko : mitu (-), play ibiraka hamna: ka (-). hurAra- (-), pull aduruda : a-cAua-ra (-), wife iraito : (imari (-), wind auaduli: pus oko : 6ho (+), rain oni-kia: h(iia garabali (-), wing -duna: -ar6na (+), (Ahuia) (?), red kore- : funA- (-), right-hand wipe aburauda : a-rAga-ca (-), with -oma: -isa: -auere (-), ripe kore- : funA- (-), -(ima (+), woman hiaro : hjAru (+), woods river onikain: dfina (-), road abona-ha: anaku / konoko : Arabu (-), worm usehi:

This content downloaded from 129.252.86.83 on Sun, 25 Oct 2015 18:24:40 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions TIME DEPTH IN THE WEST INDIES 111 igei (?), ye hukia - hui : hugiia (+), year sections predominate, and the decoration is uiua: irdmu (-), yellow subule-: dumari characterized by white-on-red painted de- (-). signs, with the white paint dropping out in 2. The foregoing statement is concerned some parts of the area during the latter part with two problems: (1) the time when the of the period. The existence of these simi- Igneri, or original speakers of what later be- larities, extending over such a broad area came the Island-Carib language, split off and always occurring at the time of first ap- from the Taino, Lokono, and Goajiro; and pearance of pottery and agriculture, can (2) the manner in which the Igneri and hardly be explained except as the result of a Taino entered the Antilles. Archeologists migration. I have coined the term "white- have investigated both of these problems on-red horizon complex" to refer to the and their solutions, if correct, should agree pottery which the migrants seem to have with the ones proposed by Taylor on brought with them.15 linguistic grounds. It will be convenient to Lov6n has identified the pottery of the consider the second problem first. white-on-red horizon complex as Igneri, and As the result of stratigraphic excavations he is followed in this by most archeologists in the West Indies and Venezuela, arche- currently working in the Antilles.16 If it is ologists have been able to establish a true, then the Igneri must have entered the chronology of four periods, numbered from Antilles during Period II, and have at that I to IV.12 The first is preceramic and need time taken over all of the major islands ex- not concern us here, since the little available cept Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Cuba. information about the historic descendants At the beginning of Period III, pottery of the people of this period indicates that related to the white-on-red horizon complex they spoke non-Arawakan languages.'3 makes its appearance in Hispaniola, Jamaica, Period II is marked by the first appear- and Cuba along with the first evidences of ances of both pottery and agriculture. These agriculture in those islands.'7 Presumably, clearly entered the Antilles from South this pottery marks the spread of the Igneri America. They seem to have passed from through the rest of the Greater Antilles, the lower part of the Orinoco Valley onto leaving only isolated pockets of preceramic, Trinidad, whence they spread through the non-Arawakan peoples in some of the larger Lesser Antilles into Puerto Rico, leaving the islands. rest of the Greater Antilles in its original A little later in the period, the pottery of preceramic status.14 the Greater Antilles, at least, begins to vary The pottery of Period II is strikingly simi- greatly. The previous horizon complex de- lar wherever it has been found over the vast 16 193. area from above Idem, p. extending Barrancas, just 16 Lovdn, op. cit., pp. 271-3; J. A. Cosculluela, the Delta of the Orinoco River in Venezuela, Sincronismo de las culturas Indo-Antillanas, Re- through Trinidad and the Lesser Antilles, vista de Arqueologia y Etnologia, II 6poca, and into Puerto Rico. this 3.27-51 (Habana, 1946), pp. 38-41; J. M. Cruxent, Everywhere, pot- Prehistoric of Venezuela etc. is Pottery (MS); tery finely made-more finely than at any 17 Rouse, op. cit., Fig. 2, footnote 5. The red- later time. Everywhere, too, gracefully out- painted pottery referred to in this footnote ap- flaring sides and rims with triangular cross pears to be derived from the ceramics of the latter part of Period II in Puerto Rico. It has now been 12 Irving Rouse, The Circum-Caribbean identified at the beginning of the ceramic se- Theory, an Archeological Test, AA 55.188-200 quence in Jamaica and Haiti as well as in the (1953). Dominican Republic, to which the footnote 13 Sven Lov6n, Origins of the Tainan Culture, refers. See Marian DeWolf, Excavations in West Indies (GUteborg, 1935), pp. 1-6. American 14 Jamaica, Antiquity 18.230-8 (1953), Rouse, op. cit., Fig. 2, Profile 1. pp. 237-8.

This content downloaded from 129.252.86.83 on Sun, 25 Oct 2015 18:24:40 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 112 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AMERICAN LINGUISTICS VOL. XXI velops into a series of local styles, differing go back to Period III, when its designs and greatly from island to island.18Since there is techniques of decoration appear gradually in considerable variation in other aspects of both the Lesser and the Greater Antilles. culture as well, it is probable that the in- They are handled differently from island to habitants of the several islands lived in island, as if they had spread individually relative isolation. Evidences of large-scale and had been adapted separately to each of migrations are lacking, although population the local ceramic traditions of Period III. By increases may well have led to expansion of Period IV in the Greater Antilles, however, the settlements of individual islands. In they had become standardized and are Puerto Rico, for example, our site survey everywhere found in association with the has shown that the Indians completed the same shapes, typically bowls with incurving settlement of the interior of the island at sides. this time.'9 In view of this gradual development The local variation and scarcity of evi- during Period III and of the barrier formed dence of migration have led us to conclude by the Carib occupation of the Lesser that the Igneri continued to live in both the Antilles during Period IV, it is difficult to Lesser and the Greater Antilles through at see how the Taino could have migrated from least the first half of Period III.20 It does not the mainland. Instead, I have elsewhere as- seem likely that the Taino could have moved sumed that the Taino developed from the into the West Indies at this time. Igneri in the Greater Antilles.22 The fact By Period IV, on the other hand, the that the deities known as ZEMIS, which were Island Carib must have conquered the Lesser a focal point of Taino culture in the time of Antilles and the Taino made their appear- Columbus, are first found in the archeologi- ance in the Greater Antilles, for this period cal sites of the latter part of Period III and extended into historic times, when the increase in numbers and complexity during Island Carib and the Taino were in posses- Period IV strengthens this interpretation. sion of those respective areas. As Taylor has Archeology, then, indicates that the noted, the Carib traditions indicate that Igneri first reached the Lesser and Greater they moved out from South America and Antilles during Period II and had in- took over the Lesser Antilles from the tensively occupied both regions by Period Igneri. The Taino, on the other hand, had III. During Period IV they gave way to the no clear traditions of origin and so we can Island Carib in the Lesser Antilles and de- only infer their movements from archeologi- veloped into the Taino in the Greater cal and linguistic evidence. Antilles. From an archeological standpoint, Period The first part of this reconstruction is IV was a time of reappearance of similarities consistent with Taylor's linguistic formula- in pottery from island to island. These make tion but the second is not. To judge from his it possible to distinguish a "modeled-incised linguistic evidence, the Taino language can- horizon complex," extending throughout the not have developed out of the Igneri in the Greater Antilles.21 The roots of this complex Greater Antilles, as archeologists have assumed. On the other hand, it is difficult 18 Areas and Periods of Culture Irving Rouse, to reconcile a migration of the Taino speak- in the Greater SJA 7.248-65 Antilles, (1951), ers from the mainland with the archeological pp. 256-8. 19 Irving Rouse, Porto Rican Prehistory, The evidence, as presented above. The two sets New York Academy of Sciences, Scientific Survey of evidence are contradictory, and so we are of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands 17.305-578 faced with a dilemma. (1952), pp. 566-71. Pending the accumulation of further data, 20 Idem, Table 1, p. 340. 21 Rouse, op. cit. (footnote 12), p. 193. 21 Rouse, op. cit. (footnote 19), pp. 361-2.

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I do not know of any satisfactory way to re- Period II lacks any great amount of incision solve this dilemma, but three possible solu- and modeling, but there is a sub-complex tions occur to me: which has these characteristics-particu- (1) The most obvious possibility is that larly finely incised crosshatched designs.24 the linguists and the archeologists are not The exact relationship of the sub-complex talking about the same thing when they to the more typical white-on-red pottery is speak of Igneri and Taino. Linguists apply still uncertain, but there is reason to believe these terms to languages but archeologists that it may have originated along the north must of necessity define them in cultural coast of Venezuela, whereas the more typical terms, with emphasis on pottery. It has long pottery appears first-so far as we now been customary to assume that language and know-in the lower part of the Orinoco culture are directly correlated in the Carib- Valley. Could these two forms of the white- bean area but, as I have noted elsewhere,23 on-red horizon complex have been brought this is not necessarily true. The fact that into the Antilles by separate migrations, one the Island Carib spoke an Arawakan lan- of the Igneri and the other of the Taino? guage but had a typically Carib culture is a (b) If, instead, only the Igneri pottery case in point. Can it be that the languages reached the West Indies during Period II, and cultures of the West Indies had entirely along with the white-on-red pottery, then separate histories and that, therefore, one the Taino would have had to follow during should not attempt to correlate them, as is Period III, despite the apparent local di- being done here? versity at that time. In such an event, the To answer this question in the affirmative first appearance of elements of the subse- would, in my opinion, be unwarranted. quent modeled-incised horizon complex and Certainly, the appearance of agriculture and of the worship of ZEMISmight be considered of white-on-red pottery during Period II a marker of the Taino migration. must have been accompanied by the intro- (3) Taylor has suggested as an alternative duction of a new language, presumably hypothesis to (1) and (2) that the Taino may Igneri. On the other hand, one might as- have entered the Antilles before the Igneri, sume that the Taino language was subse- in which case it would have been the Taino quently introduced into the Antilles without who introduced agriculture and white-on- such a marked change in the culture that it red pottery during Period II. The Igneri would show up in the archeological record. would then have come in later, either during This would provide one possible solution to the latter part of Period II, as in (2, a) the dilemma. above, or during Period III, as in (2, b). It (2) As a second, related possibility, it can is even possible-although not so likely- be suggested that we archeologists may have that the Island Carib acquired the Igneri been too cautious in inferring migrations language on the mainland and themselves from our remains. If it is true that changes introduced it into the Antilles during in language do not always correspond Period IV. to in then exactly changes culture, perhaps 24 we should look for less innova- This sub-complex has never been defined as pronounced but the Cedros in Trinidad be tions in culture with which to correlate the such, style may cited as an example. Irving Rouse, Prehistory of migration of the Taino into the Antilles. Trinidad in Relation to Adjacent Areas, Man Two such innovations are perhaps worth 47.93-8 (1947), pp. 93-4. For its occurrence in mentioning: Venezuela, see Cruxent, op. cit. It is also common in the Lesser Antilles and has been iso- (a) Most of the white-on-red pottery of recently lated by Ricardo E. Alegria (personal communi- 23 Irving Rouse, Guianas, Programa de His- cation) in Puerto Rico, where its relation to my toria de Am6rica I, 7 (Mexico City, 1953), pp. 24-6. Cuevas style is uncertain.

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Taylor has expressed a preference for the superior prestige of some sort, which does second of these three alternatives. If I had not seem likely during Period III, when to make a choice, however, I would prefer both groups were apparently on the same (3). I cannot see the Taino having by-passed level of cultural development. the Lesser Antilles to impose their language Finally, I prefer hypothesis (3) because it and (presumably) their culture on the can be more easily reconciled with the Greater Antilles when, according to the archeological record. It accounts for the archeology, both regions were just as in- settlement of the Greater Antilles by means tensively occupied by the earlier, supposedly of only a single migration, that of the Taino Igneri people. The Igneri-if they were the during Period II, and so does not do violence first inhabitants-must have been in enor- to the evidence for lack of migration in that mously greater numbers on the larger islands region during Periods III and IV. This of the Greater Antilles than on the tiny ones hypothesis has the advantage of restricting of the Lesser Antilles and so should have the second, Igneri migration to the Lesser been much easier for the Taino to assimilate Antilles, where the archeology is as yet so in the Lesser Antilles; yet, hypothesis (2) poorly known that it cannot be said for assumes that they did not do so. sure whether one or two migrations took A second reason for my preferring hy- place. pothesis (3) is that it better fits the culture There remains the problem of the date at of the Taino, as known ethnologically. These which the Igneri split off from the Taino, Indians are reported to have been peaceful- Lokono, and Goajiro. Our uncertainty about their weapons, for example, were "exceed- hypotheses (1), (2), and (3) above should ingly under-developed,"25-and therefore it not affect the handling of this problem, since is difficult for me to envisage them in the the split presumably took place on the role of conquerors, as required by hypothesis mainland, before either the Igneri or the (2). Hypothesis (3), on the other hand, as- Taino entered the Antilles. The time of sumes that the Igneri instead of the Taino Period II, therefore, may be used as the were warlike, and this better fits what we point of comparison with Taylor's lexico- know of the Igneri who survived the Carib statistical date, no matter whether it was migration on Trinidad-they did have good the Igneri or the Taino who reached the weapons, for one thing.25 Antilles at that time. Taylor, to be sure, argues that the Taino In connection with excavations in Puerto would not have had to conquer the Igneri Rico, I have obtained a series of dates by but could have settled peacefully among determining the amount of time required them, as the few Negro escapees subse- for the deposition of the refuse attributable quently did among the Island Carib. This, to the various prehistoric periods.26 I first however, seems to me a false analogy, since calculated the yearly rate of deposition of the Negroes and the Carib were united by refuse in the historic sites and then divided a common bond of hatred against the this into the average depth of refuse in the Europeans, which the Taino and Igneri sites of each prehistoric period to determine could not have shared. Moreover, the the duration of each. Adding the latter Negroes were acting as individuals, whereas figures together, I obtained a date of ca. the Taino presumably came into the 930 A.D. for the introduction of the white- Antilles as a well organized social and on-red pottery at the beginning of Period political group. For such a group, conquest II. This is a crude method of calculation, if should have been a necessity, unless the only because it rests on the unlikely assump- Taino were able to win over the Igneri by tion that the rate of deposition was the same 26 Lov6n, op. cit., pp. 440-1. 26 Rouse, op. cit. (footnote 19), pp. 564-6.

This content downloaded from 129.252.86.83 on Sun, 25 Oct 2015 18:24:40 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions TIME DEPTH IN THE WEST INDIES 115 during Periods II, III, and IV as in historic date and the earliest value for the former, time, but it was the best that could be done we obtain a difference of 300 years between under the circumstances. the two. This does not seem to be an un- Elsewhere,27I have commented that sub- reasonable length of time to allow for the sequent work is likely to lengthen this date separation of the Igneri and Taino languages rather than to shorten it. I am unable, how- on the mainland and the spread of one of ever, to agree with Willey28when he states them through the Lesser Antilles into Puerto that the date is "impossibly late," nor can Rico. I accept the estimate of Father Pinchon29 A further check on the validity of the that the Igneri reached Martinique in the linguistic date will soon be provided by the Lesser Antilles "au d6but de l'ere chr6- method of radiocarbon analysis. J. M. tienne," since neither author gives a basis Cruxent, of the Museo de Ciencias Naturales for his opinion. Pending the presentation of in Caracas, and I have obtained a number evidence in favor of an earlier date, I do not of samples of charcoal from deposits with think that my Puerto Rican calculation white-on-red pottery at the Saladero site on needs to be pushed back much before the lower Orinoco, which are now under- 600 A.D. going analysis at the Geochronometric Archeology, then, gives an approximate Laboratory in Yale University.30 They date of 600 to 930 A.D. for the presumed ar- should provide a more reliable archeological rival of the Igneri or Taino in Puerto Rico. date and one which is more comparable to This is to be compared with Taylor's date the linguistic date, since they come from the of ca. 1 to 300 A.D. for the differentiation of mainland where the separation of Igneri and the Igneri and Taino languages on the main- Taino language is supposed to have taken land. Taking the latest value for the latter place. Definitive conclusions cannot be 27 drawn until the radiocarbon Rouse, op. cit. (footnote 23), pp. 17-19. forthcoming 28Gordon R. Willey, Review of "Porto Rican dates are obtained, but meanwhile such Prehistory," AA 56.138-41 (1954). archeological evidence as we have tends to 29 Pere Robert Pinchon, Introduction a l'arch6- support Taylor's linguistic date. ologie martiniquaise, JSAP 41.305-52 (1952), p. 347. 0oCruxent, op. cit.

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