Major European subsidy for research into Amerindian languages
Willem Adelaar, Professor of Amerindian Languages and Cultures, is to receive European funding worth 2.6 million euro for research into the relations between Central and South American Amerindian languages. His aim is to structure the enormous language diversity in the region and shed light on the history of the American population.
Ice cap
The earliest history of the population of both sub-continents of America is still an enigma. The scenario that America only became populated 12,000 years ago by people from Alaska who managed to find a passage through a Canadian ice cap and then migrated further south, was apparently too simplistic.
Tools
The latest hypothesis is that America was not populated by land via the ice cap, but by sea along the west coast, and that this probably took place earlier than 12,000 years ago. Tools have already been found on islands along the coast of California, in Oregon and Texas, that point to early human habitation. The oldest known settlement in the south of Chile dates from 12,000 years ago.
Enigma
Research on the relationship and contacts between languages can shed light on the chronology and the routes of the spread of the population from North to South America via Central America. This is something of an enigma, in view of the enormous diversity of language families, language groups and isolated languages on both sub-continents. The languages of the Andes (Peru, Bolivia, Equador) in particular represent a challenge for linguists. There is scarcely any genetic affinity between the languages, although such genetic connections may exist in more northerly areas, such as Mexico. If this is the case, it would provide important evidence for research into the history of how the population spread.
Family relations
Prof. Willem Adelaar
Adelaar and his research group are now intending to compare pairs of language families that have never previously been systematically correlated: they will be comparing a language or language family from Central America (Mexoco and the Caribbean) with a second language from the Andeas region (Equador, Peru and Bolivia). They hope to demonstrate connections between the languages of these far distant regions.
Trading relations
The researchers will also be looking for similarities that have come about as a result of intensive contact between the different languages. Historical and archaeological research indicates the presence of trading relations and technological exchanges (for example, metal-working techniques) between Central America and the coast of South America. They will also be investigating whether there is any evidence of such contacts in the local languages.
Limited
Actually, according to Adelaar, it is strange that linguists have paid so little attention to this migration issue. He believes it may be because historical linguists often limit their research to one region. Adelaar is the ideal person to head this research because of his expert knowledge both of the languages of the Andes and the Amazon, as well as of the languages of Central America. The project will be carried out in collaboration with Søren Wichmann of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. Wichmann is a specailist in Central American languages and is also an expert in the quantitative methods of historic lingustic research.
Advanced Investigator Grant
Adelaar has been awarded this Advanced Investigator Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). The ERC considers scholars who have earned their stripes with excellent research. In November, Leiden archaeologist Maarten Janssen was also awarded this prestigious subsidy for his research into the calendars of Aztecs, Miztecs, Mayas and other native peoples in Central America.
Links
- Prof. Willem Adelaar
- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics
- Language Diversity in the World research profile area
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Latin American Studies
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