A phylolinguistic classification of the Quechua language family

Blum, Frederic; Barrientos, Carlos; Ingunza, Adriano; Poirier, Zoe

doi:10.31235/osf.io/twu6a

“…We illustrate this change in the publicly available CrossAndean dataset ( Blum et al , 2023 , curated on GitHub at https://github.com/lexibank/crossandean ). Figure 3 shows the annotations for two cognate sets, the lexical concept TO STAND and the DESIDERATIVE morpheme in five varieties.…”

Section: Examplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grouping sounds into evolving units for the purpose of historical language comparison

List,

Hill,

Blum

et al. 2024

Open Res Europe

0

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Computer-assisted approaches to historical language comparison have made great progress during the past two decades. Scholars can now routinely use computational tools to annotate cognate sets, align words, and search for regularly recurring sound correspondences. However, computational approaches still suffer from a very rigid sequence model of the form part of the linguistic sign, in which words and morphemes are segmented into fixed sound units which cannot be modified. In order to bring the representation of sound sequences in computational historical linguistics closer to the research practice of scholars who apply the traditional comparative method, we introduce improved sound sequence representations in which individual sound segments can be grouped into evolving sound units in order to capture language-specific sound laws more efficiently. We illustrate the usefulness of this enhanced representation of sound sequences in concrete examples and complement it by providing a small software library that allows scholars to convert their data from forms segmented into sound units to forms segmented into evolving sound units and vice versa.

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Ecuadorian Quechua and Quechuan classification

Floyd

2024

JHL

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According to the traditional Quechuan classification which has dominated Andean historical linguistics since the 1960s, the Ecuadorian Quechua group (Andean Quichua, Amazonian Quichua, Colombian Ingano, and lower Pastaza Inga in Peru) belongs to the “Quechua II” branch, supposedly including all northern and southern Quechuas, and to the “Quechua IIB” sub-branch, said to also include the Chachapoyas-Lamas Quechua group and the “coastal” Quechua documented by Domingo de Santo Tomás in the mid-16th century. This study evaluates the traditional classification of Ecuadorian Quechua and shows that it does not meet the basic standards of subgrouping based on shared innovations. Special attention is given to the historical status of contrastive complex stops, traditionally claimed to be an Aymara-influenced innovation in Cuzco Quechua, supposedly transferred to Ecuadorian Quechua through “superstrate” influence; instead, it is demonstrated that these sounds have correspondences across the Quechuan family, confirming them as retentions that are uninformative for classification. The study goes on to individually evaluate all proposed criteria for the traditional classification of Ecuadorian Quechua, finding that none hold up as shared innovations, leading to the conclusion that Ecuadorian Quechua is an independent branch of the Quechuan family. Historical records document how this branch originated in Ecuador when Quechua was first introduced by the Incas, then was adopted by the Spanish as a colonial standard, and then became fragmented into four modern languages, all within a period of about 500–600 years.

show abstract

Grouping sounds into evolving units for the purpose of historical language comparison

List,

Hill,

Blum

et al. 2024

Open Res Europe

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Computer-assisted approaches to historical language comparison have made great progress during the past two decades. Scholars can now routinely use computational tools to annotate cognate sets, align words, and search for regularly recurring sound correspondences. However, computational approaches still suffer from a very rigid sequence model of the form part of the linguistic sign, in which words and morphemes are segmented into fixed sound units which cannot be modified. In order to bring the representation of sound sequences in computational historical linguistics closer to the research practice of scholars who apply the traditional comparative method, we introduce improved sound sequence representations in which individual sound segments can be grouped into evolving sound units in order to capture language-specific sound laws more efficiently. We illustrate the usefulness of this enhanced representation of sound sequences in concrete examples and complement it by providing a small software library that allows scholars to convert their data from forms segmented into sound units to forms segmented into evolving sound units and vice versa.

show abstract

A phylolinguistic classification of the Quechua language family

Cited by 3 publications

References 24 publications

Grouping sounds into evolving units for the purpose of historical language comparison

Grouping sounds into evolving units for the purpose of historical language comparison

Ecuadorian Quechua and Quechuan classification

Grouping sounds into evolving units for the purpose of historical language comparison

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