Traces of Contact in Western South America: Arawakan and Andean Languages

Abstract

Arawakan is the major language family of lowland South America in terms of number of languages and size of the distribution area. Additionally, a closer look reveals remarkable correspondences with Andean languages, as this article will show. In Quechuan and especially in Aymaran, many of them seem to be the result of relatively recent and superficial contact. By contrast, in other central Andean languages (Uru-Chipayan, and, in particular, Puquina) and in languages of the Andean periphery (e.g., Umbra, Sechura, Tallán, Mapudungun, Yahgan), there are cases of corresponding basic vocabulary items that may reflect other scenarios such as early contact, and possibly also extensive migrations. This article illustrates how the study of a lowland language familiy can also be relevant in the study of Andean linguistic prehistory, and questions an all-too-general Andes-Amazonia divide.