Kotik molmal! Discovering Lenca, a lost language of Central America Alan R. King Linguistics seminar University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa September 2017 Kotik molmal! Discovering Lenca, a lost language of Central America • What’s Lenca? • Routes of discovery • A linguistic problem Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Central America Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Lenca in Central America HL Honduran Lenca HL Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Lenca in Central America HL Honduran Lenca ESL El Salvador Lenca HL ESL Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Meso-American Cultural Area Meso- American Area Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Lenca outside MA Cultural Area HL ESL Meso- American Area Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Intermediate Zone Intermediate Zone Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Lenca inside Intermediate Zone HL ESL Intermediate Zone Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Lenca and the cultural areas HL ESL Intermediate Zone Meso- American Area Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Chief language families Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Chief language families Mayan languages Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Chief language families Mayan languages Chibchan languages Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Chief language families Mayan languages Misumalpan languages Chibchan languages Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Lenca and chief language families Mayan HL languages ESL Misumalpan languages Chibchan languages Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Language families and cultural areas Mayan languages Misumalpan languages Chibchan languages Intermediate Zone Meso- American Area Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Lenca, lang. families and cultural areas Mayan languages Misumalpan HL languages ESL Chibchan languages Intermediate Zone Meso- American Area Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Meso-American language area Meso-American language area MA language area Intermediate Zone Meso- American Cultural Area Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Mayan languages, MA language area Mayan languages MA language area Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? SCA and MA language areas Southern Meso- Central American American HL language ESL area Southern MA Central language American area Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Chibchan, Misumalpan and SCA Misumalpan languages Chibchan HL languages ESL SCA language area MA language area Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Honduras, ES and language areas SCA language area HL HONDURAS MA ES ESL language area Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Honduras, ES and language areas SCA language area HL HONDURAS MA ES ESL language area Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Honduras Honduras and El Salvador El Salvador Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? SCA languages of Honduras and ES Pech Language families: Chibchan Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? SCA languages of Honduras and ES Pech Miskito Cacaopera Language families: Chibchan Misumalpan Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? SCA languages of Honduras and ES Tol Pech Miskito Cacaopera Language families: Chibchan Misumalpan Jicaquean Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? SCA languages of Honduras and ES Tol Pech Miskito Honduran Lenca Cacaopera ESL Language families: Chibchan Misumalpan Jicaquean Lencan Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Areal frontier in Honduras and ES Tol Pech Miskito Honduran Lenca Cacaopera ESL Language families: Chibchan Misumalpan Jicaquean Lencan Discovering Lenca Standard Average Central Honduran SCA language area Discovering Lenca Standard Average Central Honduran SCA language area Honduras Discovering Lenca Standard Average Central Honduran SCA language area Honduras El Salvador Discovering Lenca Standard Average Central Honduran SCA language area Honduras El Salvador Northern SCA / Central Honduran Discovering Lenca Standard Average Central Honduran SCA language area HL Honduras El Salvador Northern SCA / Central Honduran Discovering Lenca Standard Average Central Honduran SCA language area HL ESL Honduras El Salvador Northern SCA / Central Honduran Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? A Honduran Lenca market Discovering Lenca What’s Lenca? Honduran Lenca market Kotik molmal! Discovering Lenca, a lost language of Central America • What’s Lenca? • Routes of discovery • A linguistic problem Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Lenca’s current situation • HL and ESL both stopped being spoken in the mid-twentieth century Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Lenca’s current situation • HL and ESL both stopped being spoken in the mid-twentieth century • Strong awareness of indigenous identity and interest in traditions Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Lenca’s current situation • HL and ESL both stopped being spoken in the mid-twentieth century • Strong awareness of indigenous identity and interest in traditions • Stated eagerness for language recovery Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Starting conditions for rediscovering Lenca • Nobody knows Lenca, and very little authentic knowledge of even fragments of language Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Starting conditions for rediscovering Lenca • Nobody knows Lenca, and very little authentic knowledge of even fragments of language • Minimal “rememberers” Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Starting conditions for rediscovering Lenca • Nobody knows Lenca, and very little authentic knowledge of even fragments of language • Minimal “rememberers” • False claims of knowing the language Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Starting conditions for rediscovering Lenca • Nobody knows Lenca, and very little authentic knowledge of even fragments of language • Minimal “rememberers” • False claims of knowing the language • Absence of rigorous linguistic work Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Historical documentation El Salvador Lenca: • A grammatical sketch (several pages, early 20th century, incomplete, unreliable) • Two substantial word lists • All are in the same dialect, Chilanga • No continuous text Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Historical documentation Honduran Lenca: • A 60-line conversation with a translation (contains transcription mistakes) • Several word lists (with frequent mistakes) • Capricious, inconsistent spellings • Several dialects represented • No grammatical description of the language except for one (incorrect) verb paradigm Historical documentation Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Using direct evidence to “restore” the Lenca languages • “Deconstruct” the grammar sketch (ESL) Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Using direct evidence to “restore” the Lenca languages • “Deconstruct” the grammar sketch (ESL) • Review other attempts to analyse (not many) Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Using direct evidence to “restore” the Lenca languages • “Deconstruct” the grammar sketch (ESL) • Review other attempts to analyse (not many) • Posit phonology, codify data corpus Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Using direct evidence to “restore” the Lenca languages • Posit grammatical structure from corpus data (mainly HL) Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Using direct evidence to “restore” the Lenca languages • Posit grammatical structure from corpus data (mainly HL) • Reappraise data corpus and grammar sketch in light of new assumptions Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Using direct evidence to “restore” the Lenca languages • Posit grammatical structure from corpus data (mainly HL) • Reappraise data corpus and grammar sketch in light of new assumptions • Systematize data and digitalize (create databases) Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Using indirect evidence to push the limits of “restoration” • Becoming a “medium” Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Using indirect evidence to push the limits of “restoration” • Becoming a “medium” No native speakers = no native speaker intuition A linguist-medium learns and internalizes the language, in order to harvest a (non-native) speaker intuition The linguist-medium becomes a channel for the language to “express itself” and facilitate transmission to a new generation of (native?) speakers Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Using indirect evidence to push the limits of “restoration” • Becoming a “medium” • Family matters Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Using indirect evidence to push the limits of “restoration” • Becoming a “medium” • Family matters The two Lenca languages are recognisably cognates with a probable separation of at least 1000 years. Each offers some help in positing or confirming analyses providing insight on the other language. Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Using indirect evidence to push the limits of “restoration” • Becoming a “medium” • Family matters • Typological profiling Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Using indirect evidence to push the limits of “restoration” • Becoming a “medium” • Family matters • Typological profiling Numerous features can be predicted with reasonable probability from the fact that Lenca is OV: postpositions, VAux, clause + subordinator… Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Using indirect evidence to push the limits of “restoration” • Becoming a “medium” • Family matters • Profiling • Going local Discovering Lenca Routes of discovery Using indirect evidence to push the limits of “restoration” • Going local Several features are common to Lenca and neighbouring languages, especially those belonging to the same linguistic area (SCA). This knowledge could lead to extrapolations to fill structural gaps, confirmation of tentative hypotheses or calques as a source of innovation Cf. Aramaic Modern Hebrew Kotik molmal! Discovering Lenca, a lost language of Central America • What’s Lenca? • Routes of discovery • A linguistic