A recent northern origin for the Uto-Aztecan family

Abstract

The Uto-Aztecan language family is one of the largest language families in the Americas.However, there has been considerable debate about its origin and how it spread. Here we use Bayesian phylogenetic methods to analyze lexical data from 34 Uto-Aztecan varieties and 2 Kiowa-Tanoan languages. We infer the age of Proto-Uto-Aztecan to be around 4,100 years ago (3,258 -5,025 years), and identify the most likely homeland to be near what is now southern California. We reconstruct the most probable subsistence strategy in the ancestral Uto-Aztecan society and infer no casual or intensive cultivation, an absence of cereal crops, and a primary subsistence mode of gathering (rather than agriculture). Our results therefore support the timing, geography, and cultural practices of a northern origin, and are inconsistent with alternative scenarios.

What Happened When? Relative Chronology and the state of pre-Nahuan in the Classic Period

“…The phonological chronology presented below is motivated by a series of new insights emerging from a systematic comparison of Corachol and Nahuatl that I have carried out over the past 6 years. The Corachol-Nahua grouping within Southern Uto-Aztecan is now quite solidly supported by phonological innovations (Langacker & Campbell 1978, Hill 2011, Pharao Hansen 2020, lexicostatistical evidence (cognate density) (Greenhill et al 2023, Pharao Hansen 2020 and shared lexical and morphological innovations (Pharao Hansen 2020). I have preferred to group rules that I consider related, and rather than positing the same rule many times, I allow for them to be active over periods of time, so that they may overlap somewhat.…”

“…Dakin (1982) proposed a highly useful chronology of phonological changes in the development from proto-Uto-Aztecan to proto-Nahuatl. Nevertheless, some recent findings suggest a need to revise her chronology somewhat, especially because her proposal does not operate with an intermediate proto-Corachol-Nahuan stage which seems to be necessary (Pharao Hansen 2020, Greenhill et al 2023. At the same time a major question in the study of Mesoamerican history, is the question of whether Nahuas (or rather pre-Nahuas) were present in Central Mexico, during the classic period, perhaps with a significant population at the classic period megalopolis of Teotihuacan.…”

Tentatively tracing Trans‐New Guinea: A phylogenetic evaluation of potential deeper relationships.

“…To generate the random trees in the tree-search I used a simple Yule (pure-birth) tree prior (Yule 1924). There are more complicated tree-priors available but these would require me to make strong assumptions about the rate of language birth and death (Stadler et al 2012, Zhang et al 2015, incorporate sampled ancestor languages (Gavryushkina et al 2014, Heggarty et al 2023, or specify the number of languages sampled from the full linguistic diversity of the family (Greenhill et al 2023, Stadler et al 2012, Zhang et al 2015 -none of which I felt comfortable making.…”