Related Research Articles
The Cariban languages are a family of languages indigenous to northeastern South America. They are widespread across northernmost South America, from the mouth of the Amazon River to the Colombian Andes, and they are also spoken in small pockets of central Brazil. The languages of the Cariban family are relatively closely related. There are about three dozen, but most are spoken only by a few hundred people. Macushi is the only language among them with numerous speakers, estimated at 30,000. The Cariban family is well known among linguists partly because one language in the family—Hixkaryana—has a default word order of object–verb–subject. Previous to their discovery of this, linguists believed that this order did not exist in any spoken natural language.
The Hokan language family is a hypothetical grouping of a dozen small language families that were spoken mainly in California, Arizona and Baja California.
The Oto-Manguean or Otomanguean languages are a large family comprising several subfamilies of indigenous languages of the Americas. All of the Oto-Manguean languages that are now spoken are indigenous to Mexico, but the Manguean branch of the family, which is now extinct, was spoken as far south as Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Oto-Manguean is widely viewed as a proven language family. However, this status has been recently challenged.
Pano-Tacanan is a proposed family of languages spoken in Peru, western Brazil, Bolivia and northern Paraguay. There are two close-knit branches, Panoan and Tacanan, with 33 languages. There are lexical and grammatical similarities between the two branches, but it has not yet been demonstrated that these are genetic.
Bora–Witóto is a proposal to unite the Boran and Witotoan language families of southwestern Colombia and neighboring regions of Peru and Brazil. Kaufman (1994) added the Andoque language.
The Isthmian script is a very early Mesoamerican writing system in use in the area of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec from perhaps 500 BCE to 500 CE, although there is disagreement on these dates. It is also called the La Mojarra script and the Epi-Olmec script.
The Mixe–Zoque languages are a language family whose living members are spoken in and around the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico. The Mexican government recognizes three distinct Mixe–Zoquean languages as official: Mixe or ayook with 188,000 speakers, Zoque or o'de püt with 88,000 speakers, and the Popoluca languages of which some are Mixean and some Zoquean with 69,000 speakers. However, the internal diversity in each of these groups is great. Ethnologue counts 17 different languages, and the current classification of Mixe–Zoquean languages by Wichmann (1995) counts 12 languages and 11 dialects. Extinct languages classified as Mixe–Zoquean include Tapachultec, formerly spoken in Tapachula, along the southeast coast of Chiapas.
Terrence Kaufman was an American linguist specializing in documentation of unwritten languages, lexicography, Mesoamerican historical linguistics and language contact phenomena. He was an emeritus professor of linguistics and anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh.
Macro-Panoan is a hypothetical proposal linking four language families of Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina that Kaufman (1994) says "seems promising". The Pano–Takanan connection is widely but not unanimously accepted. Kaufman (1990) also finds the Moseten–Chon connection fairly convincing. However, the deeper connection between these two groups is more tentative.
Macro-Otomákoan is a proposal linking three small language families of the Amazon: The Harákmbut (Tuyoneri) family, the extinct Otomakoan languages, and the Trumai language isolate. It was proposed by Kaufman (1990) and slightly modified in Kaufman (2007).
Tequiraca–Canichana is a possible language family proposed in Kaufman (1994) uniting two erstwhile language isolates, Canichana of Bolivia and Tequiraca of Peru, both of which are either extinct or nearly so. The proposal is not included in Campbell (2012).
Ticuna–Yuri is a small family, perhaps even a dialect continuum, consisting of at least two, and perhaps three, known languages of South America: the major western Amazonian language Ticuna, the poorly attested and extinct Yurí, and the scarcely known language of the largely uncontacted Carabayo. Kaufman also adds Munichi to the family.
Saparo–Yawan is a language family proposal uniting two small language families of the western Amazon. It was first proposed by Swadesh (1954), and continues through Payne (1984) and Kaufman (1994).
Esmeralda–Yaruro or Takame–Jarúroan, is a proposed connection between two unclassified languages of Venezuela and Ecuador: Yaruro, 6000 speakers, and the extinct Esmeralda. They would be only distantly related, but Kaufman (1990) finds the connection convincing, and Campbell (2012) believes the connection is promising.
Sechura–Catacao is a proposed connection between the small Catacaoan language family of Peru and the language isolate Sechura (Sek). The languages are extremely poorly known, but Kaufman (1990) finds the connection convincing, Campbell (2012) persuasive.
Mosetén–Chon is a proposal linking the Mosetenan languages and the Chonan languages of South America. Kaufman (1990) finds the connection fairly convincing.
Katembri–Taruma is a language family proposed by Kaufman (1990) that links two extinct or critically endangered languages of South America:
Macro-Paesan is a proposal linking several small families and language isolates of northwest South America. Kaufman (2007) proposes the structure at the right. Paez–Barbacoan is commonly proposed, though Curnow (1998) argued that it is spurious.
Macro-Andean is a speculative proposal by Kaufman (2007) linking languages of the northern Andes.
Michael Kaufman is a Canadian author, educator, and theorist focused on engaging men and boys to promote gender equality, end violence against women, and end self-destructive ideals of manhood. He co-founded the White Ribbon Campaign in 1991, the largest network of men working to ending violence against women worldwide. Michael Kaufman also co-founded the Men for Women's Choice campaign with Gordon Cleveland in 1989. He is a senior fellow of Instituto Promundo, an NGO based in Rio de Janeiro and Washington, D.C.
References
- ↑ Kaufman, Terrence. 2007. Atlas of the World's Languages, 2 edn., 65-67. London, New York: Routledge.