Matthias Urban

This chapter presents the second of three case studies, applying the framework for studying lost languages to the Andes of the southern Ecuadorian highlands. While both (from the Quechuan point of view) “exotic” toponymy and a layer of lexical items with similarly “exotic” sound structure have been noted in the Quechuan of CañarQuechuanCañar Quichua and AzuayEcuadorAzuay at the outset of modern Quechuan historical linguistics, this case is still much less explored than the one of the previous chapter. This chapter analyzes the toponymy of the Ecuadorian provinces of CañarEcuadorCañar and AzuayEcuadorAzuay in the greatest detail so far, and not only carves out its phonological characteristics, but also shows continuities of certain toponymic endings of the region with the north, in particular the Ecuadorian-Colombian border area. Drawing on an earlier study, the chapter shows that the local Quechuan …

This chapter presents the third and final case study of this book, which is concerned with the ChachapoyasPeruChachapoyas area on the eastern slopes of the Andes in northern Peru. The site of a distinctive pre-Columbian culture, this regionPeruChachapoyas, like the southern Ecuadorian highlands, has a highly distinctive toponymy that is decidedly un-Quechuan and that has been attributed to a pre-Quechuan language conventionally called “ChachaChacha”. As another parallel to southern Ecuador, also the Quechua of the ChachapoyasQuechuanChachapoyasregionPeruChachapoyas has undergone some drastic changes, including vowel reduction processes that create surface syllables that are much heavier than is common in Quechuan. Here, I analyze the toponymy and a small set of vocabulary items that do not have Quechuan etymologiesEtymology, to suggest that the so-called “Chacha” language …

This chapter describes the methodological approach to lost languages pursued in this book. It discusses the three types of SprachdenkmälerSprachdenkmal such languages may have left behind. These include, first, toponyms (placenames) and anthroponyms (personal names). Toponyms in particular are firmly linked to geography by designating places, and they are for this reason often very conservative elements in processes of language shift. The framework of this book emphasizes the importance on recurrent toponymic endings which often correspond to terms for generic landforms such as ‘river,’ ‘mountain,’ ‘valley,’ etc. It argues that attempts to etymologize toponymic endings should focus on comparisons with nouns with such meanings to constrain semantic leeway. Second, SprachdenkmälerSprachdenkmal include changes in the sound system and the grammar of the regional varieties of expanding …

This opening chapter introduces the notion of linguistic stratigraphy. This is understood as the study of traces of languages, including undocumented ones, that are no longer spoken because at some earlier point of time, its speakers have shifted to another language that has newly arrived in the relevant part of the world. The chapter argues that such episodes are likely a common phenomenon in human linguistic history. Maintaining the consistent metaphoric comparison with archaeology implied by the term stratigraphy, the chapter also introduces the notion of “SprachdenkmälerSprachdenkmal,” literally “language monuments,” as a cover term for three types of traces that such languages may leave and that can be studied even after they have disappeared: toponyms (placenames), contact-induced changes in the sound structure and grammar of the expanding language that can be attributed to imperfect language …

Throughout Central and South America, similar words for salient rodent species, the agoutis ( Dasyprocta spp.), reconstruct to some of the most ancient known languages families in the species’ range, including Chibchan (*’kuri), Cariban (*akuri), Tupian (*akutˀi), and others. Unless these are dismissed as mere chance, this makes for as interesting as problematic evidence for deep linguistic history: what mechanisms account for the striking similarities that must go back far into prehistory? One possibility is that the words are lexical evidence for very old genealogical connections. While this is a possibility worth bearing in mind also in light of current and past suggestions that involve some of the relevant groups, we cannot conclude that this is indeed the case on the basis of the available evidence. Another, and perhaps less costly, hypothesis is very old borrowing involving relevant proto …

This concluding chapter provides a comparative synopsis of the results obtained in the three case studies and a summary evaluation of the results. It compares the three case studies according to several parameters of variation, showing that in all three study regions, there is evidence for non-Quechuan toponymy and also structural changes in the local Quechua lects, in particular in the phonologyPhonology. However, the results differ with regard to the confidence with which we can attribute these to contact-influence of the substrate kind, and also the degree to which the lexicon has been enriched by an unrelated language. Most importantly, the confidence with which one can identify a particular language or language familyLanguage family with which the replaced language may have been affiliated varies from strong in the case of Southern Peru, intermediate in the Southern Ecuadorian highlands, to weakest in …

While research on possible adaptive processes in language history has recently centered mostly on phonological variables, here, I return the focus on the lexicon in two different ways. First, I take up the familiar theme of the responsiveness of language structure to the local conditions at different elevations of the earth’s surface by exploring further the idea that language communities at high altitudes may tend not to distinguish lexically, as, e.g., English does, between “cloud” and “fog.” Analyses of a global dataset of languages as well as in-depth study of the languages of the Central Andes are consistent in showing a wide spread of colexification of “cloud” and “fog” across elevations, whereas distinguishing languages tend more to be spoken at lower elevations. Statistically, there is global support for the idea that colexification is triggered by high elevation, but a closer look, in particular at the Andean dataset, paints a more nuanced picture. Concretely, it shows that in some language families, there are consistent preferences for either colexifying or distinguishing between “cloud” and “fog.” In particular, the behavior of the large Quechuan family, which ranges across high- and low-elevation environments but still is consistently colexifying, shows no evidence for adaptive processes within language families. This result is open to various interpretations and explanations, for they suggest lineage-specific preferences for or against colexification that run counter to global trends. It is also at odds with the notions of “efficient communication” and “communicative need” as far as they relate to lexical categories and bars mechanistic or deterministic views on …

This chapter provides a brief introduction to the culture historyCulture history of the Central Andes, which is chequered and multifaceted. It emphasizes that there is a cultural palimpsest in which old and new elements coexist along each other, and links that to the observation that the same is true linguistically. The chapter then introduces Quechuan, the Andean language familyLanguage family with the largest geographical spread and the greatest number of speakers, discusses its internal classificationClassification, and traces the developments that led to its remarkable scope. The chapter shows that in many of the regions in which Quechuan is today spoken as the principal or only Indigenous language there is evidence that, sometimes until quite recently, other languages were once spoken, and that the Quechuan presence is but a relatively thin layer under which now lost diversity can be found. The chapter also …