The social lives of isolates (and small language families): the case of the Northwest Amazon

Abstract

The Americas are home to patches of extraordinary linguistic (genealogical) diversity. These high-diversity areas are particularly unexpected given the recent population of the Americas. In this paper, we zoom in on one such area, the Northwest Amazon, and address the question of how the diversity in this area has persisted to the present. We contrast two hypotheses that claim opposite mechanisms for the maintenance of diversity: the isolation hypothesis suggests that isolation facilitates the preservation of diversity, while the integration hypothesis proposes that conscious identity preservation in combination with contact drives diversity maintenance. We test predictions for both hypotheses across four disciplines: biogeography, cultural anthropology, population genetics and linguistics. Our results show signs of both isolation and integration, but they mainly suggest considerable diversity in how groups of speakers have interacted with their surroundings.

Multidisciplinary approaches to the Amazonian past: introduction to the theme issue

“…The papers in this theme issue vary in their geographical and temporal focus (though there is considerable overlap among them). Two papers examine the historical dynamics of the linguistically diverse Northwest Amazonian region around the Upper Rio Negro in Colombia and Brazil (Chacon & Cayón [4]; Arias et al [5]), while van Gijn et al [6] take a broader geographical perspective on the same region, extending the scope to Ecuador and Northern Peru. Zariquiey et al [7] examine the Panoan language family, which is located further south in the Amazonian regions of central Peru, northern Bolivia and western Brazil.…”

“…The paper by Michael et al [8] focuses on the Arawakan family, which is present in all of those areas, extending across much of the Amazon Basin and further north into the Guyanas and the Caribbean. Regarding timescales, the papers that examine the Northwest Amazon (van Gijn et al [6], Cayón & Chacon [4], Arias et al [5]) take a similar scope: these authors focus on Arawakan-Tukanoan contact, which likely emerged during the last 2500 years and continues to the present day [9]. Michael et al's [8] study of the Arawakan language family includes archaeological dates ranging from 2800 BP to 500 BP.…”

“…These mechanisms make contrasting predictions about the historical traces that we would expect to find in the geographical, ethnographic, genetic and linguistic records. van Gijn et al [6] set out to test these predictions in the Northwest Amazon using data from these four disciplines, and they conclude that the region was characterized by a period of shared history between many groups, over large distances, until around 500 CE. Around that time, groups practicing intensive agriculture expanded throughout the Northwest Amazon.…”

“…[ 5 ]), while van Gijn et al . [ 6 ] take a broader geographical perspective on the same region, extending the scope to Ecuador and Northern Peru. Zariquiey et al .…”

“…Regarding timescales, the papers that examine the Northwest Amazon (van Gijn et al . [ 6 ], Cayón & Chacon [ 4 ], Arias et al . [ 5 ]) take a similar scope: these authors focus on Arawakan–Tukanoan contact, which likely emerged during the last 2500 years and continues to the present day [ 9 ].…”