Western Toba in the Chaco Boreal (South America): Indication of Ethnohistorical and Linguistic Contacts

Abstract

Combining ethnohistorical and linguistic perspectives, we have analyzed a peculiarity of the Guaicuruan language spoken by the Western Toba on the Middle Pilcomayo River (Argentina): the distinction between group and restricted group in the first person non-singular subject affixes on verbs that is common among speakers of neighboring languages, but does not appear in other Guaicuruan languages. In our study, we examine the Western Toba ethnohistory of the Northern Chaco region of the South American Gran Chaco between the 16th and 19th centuries. In addition, we compare their first person non-singular verbal encoding strategies with the ones used by other Guaicuruan languages as well as with languages spoken by peoples with whom the Toba engaged in sustained contact, including speakers of the Mataco-Mataguayan, Tupi-Guaraní, and Zamuco families.