Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Willem Adelaar - Dutch Amerindian Languages
Willem Adelaar - Dutch Amerindian Languages
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Introduction
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Dutch involvement in native American linguistic research dates from the firsthalf of
the present century and began with C.C. Uhlenbeck's work on Blackfoot, an Algon
quian language of the North American prairies, and CH. de Goeje's work on the
languages of the Guyanas and Northeastern Brazil.
Research of North American languages was first undertaken in the '60s by Aert H.
Kuipers, who made a detailed description of Squamish, a Salishan language spoken on
a reservation situated within the limits of the town of Vancouver. Later, Kuipers
extended his research to Shuswap, another Salishan language, spoken in the interior of
British Columbia. As a professor of Slavic linguistics at Leiden University, Kuipers
encouraged several of his students and colleagues to begin descriptive work on native
languages of British Columbia. The interest of the Leiden descriptivists came to
include not only the Salishan family but also the neighbouring Wakashan and Dene
(Athabaskan) families.
The Salishan languages which have been researched by Dutch scholars are Bella
Coola (Henk F. Nater), Comox (Jan Timmers), Lillooet (Jan P. van Eijk), Sechelt (Jan
Timmers), Shuswap and Squamish (both by Kuipers). So far, grammatical descrip
tions of four languages have appeared: Bella Coola, Lillooet, Shuswap and Squamish.
Dictionaries or root-lists have appeared for Bella Coola, Sechelt, Shuswap and Squa
mish. Furthermore, Kuipers has made significant contributions to the reconstruction
of Proto-Salish. Studies have been made of the northern division of Wakashan,
comprising the languages Haisla, Heiltsuk (or Bella Bella), Kwakwala (or Kwakiutl)
and Oowekyala. John C. Rath has published a huge amount of lexical material and
texts of these languages, partly in cooperation with Neville J. Lincoln. Frederik H.H.
Kortlandt, Kuipers' successor in the Slavic department, discovered thatHeiltsuk is a
tonal language, a fact which had gone unnoticed in earlier work. Hein Vink published
a phonology of theHaisla language. Nater is currently studying theTahltan language
of theDene family spoken at Iskut in northern British Columbia. The Dutch linguists
van Eijk, Nater and Rath found temporary employment as resident-linguists on British
Columbian Indian reservations where one of their tasks was the production of educa
tional materials for the use of the community.
Both the Salishan and the Wakashan languages are of considerable linguistic
interest because they have extremely complex consonant systems, which require
extensive phonetic training to study. Although not demonstrably related genetically,
the two families have much in common and exhibit many characteristics of a Sprach
bund. Of particular interest is the existence of vowelless words in (Salishan) Bella Coola
56
De Goeje's work on the languages of theGuyanas has been continued in the form of
Berend J. Hoffs research on theCarib (or Carina) language of Surinam. As a member
of theGeneral Linguistics Department at Leiden University, Hoff wrote an extensive
descriptive grammar of Carib as well as several articles on details of the syntax of that
language. Hoffs field research was carried out mainly in Surinam itself.Nowadays,
quite a few speakers of theCarib language live in theNetherlands, one of whom isMr.
R. Kiban, an assistent toDr. Hoff as a consultant on theCarib language. Hoffs work
includes comparative topics, such as the exchange of loan words between Carib and
the Tupi languages of Brazil, and encompasses an extensive corpus of Carib texts.
Quechua Studies
In the early '60s, there grew an increasing awareness of the fact that the Quechua
language spoken in theAndes from southern Colombia down to northern Argentina
was not as monolithic as ithad once seemed. Pioneering work by Alfredo Torero and
by Gary J. Parker clearly showed thatQuechua was in fact divided into a large number
of dialects which were in many cases not mutually intelligible. It had also been
established that a large group of dialects located in the central and northern highlands
of Peru, the so-called Quechua I or Quechua B dialects, constituted a rather divergent
subdivision of the Quechua family. This conclusion led to establishing a date of
perhaps 1500 years ago for the separation of the two main branches of Quechua.
The findings of Torero and Parker refuted the idea that the predominance of
Quechua had exclusively been a consequence of Inca imperialism and of subsequent
colonial language policy. It became obvious that the initial expansion of the language
took place long before Inca power had attained its apogee in the 15th century. The
speakers of Proto-Quechua, the language from which all the present-day Quechua
dialects derive, did not live near Cusco, which was to become the Inca capital, but
further north in the central highlands and coast of Peru.
These new insights engendered a need for in-depth descriptions of local varieties of
Quechua, especially those belonging to the central and northern Peruvian group. Since
1967, the present author has conducted field research on central Peruvian dialects
spoken inChongos Bajo (Huancayo province), San Pedro de Cajas and Vicora Congas
(Tarma province) and Pacaraos in the upper Chancay valley (Huaral province). An
in-depth description of the grammar and lexicon of Quechua dialects spoken in the
province of Tarma was published in 1977. A lexicon of the Pacaraos dialect appeared
in 1982, and a grammatical description thereof in 1987.
The Pacaraos dialect, now only spoken by a few aged individuals, is of particular
importance to the reconstruction of Proto-Quechua. It preserves a 1stperson ending
which consists of a stressed vowel + -y inword-final position. This form provides a
plausible explanation for all other 1stperson endings attested inpresent-day Quechua
dialects.
57
Together with Alfredo Torero, who spent a year at the Comparative Linguistics
Department of Leiden University with a research grant from theNetherlands Organi
sation for Pure Scientific Research (ZWO) in 1983-1984, the present author has started
research on the intricate historical relationship of theQuechua language family and
theAru language family. The so-called Aru family comprises Aymara and two minor
languages, Jaqaru and Cauqui, both still in use. Apart frommany structural similari
ties, Quechua and Aru share about 25% of their lexicon. Nevertheless, they are not
demonstrably related in the genetic sense. Most efforts are now directed towards
establishing criteria for determining the direction and the relative antiquity of past
borrowings. The unique relationship between the Quechua and Aru families is of
importance to the reconstruction of Andean prehistory and for theoretical aspects of
language contact.
In the early '70s, Pieter C. Muysken (of theGeneral Linguistics Department of the
University of Amsterdam) started research on the Ecuadorean varieties of Quechua
(locally called Quichua). Together with Louisa R. Stark, Muysken published a dictio
nary of highland Ecuadorean Quechua reflecting the dialect differences found within
that area. In his work, Muysken pays particular attention to contact between Quechua
and Spanish, both from a historical and from a synchronic point of view (e.g., second
language acquisition). In some parts of theEcuadorean highlands, contact vernaculars
have developed inwhich a Spanish lexicon is combined with Quechua grammatical
endings. These most unusual 'mixed languages' are called Media Lengua (the varieties
recorded near Salcedo, Cotopaxi province, and near Saraguro, Loja province) or
Catalangu (in Canar province).
Muysken's concern is not limited toQuechua-Spanish contact vernaculars but also
extends to the creole languages that have developed in theNew World as a result of
Afro-European contacts. Such an approach makes itpossible to view the development
of contact vernaculars and Creoles in the perspective of a general theory of language
contact. A case similar inmany ways to that of theMedia Lengua is that ofMichif, a
French-Cree contact vernacular spoken by a part of theMetis population inCanada
(Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta) and in theU.S. (North Dakota and Montana).
Michif is the object of a projected investigation by Peter J. Bakker.
Syntactic theory and, in particular, generative syntax in its successive phases of
development (Extended Standard Theory, Government and Binding) have played a
leading role inMuysken's research on several modern varieties of Quechua. He has
worked on syntactic change in Ecuadorean Quechua, causatives and stative-like
passives in several Peruvian dialects and, together with Claire Lefebvre of UQAM,
Montreal, on nominalizations inCuzco Quechua. Simon C. van de Kerke's ongoing
research on the syntactic implications of verbal affixes in Bolivian Quechua comple
ments Muysken's work on the interaction of morphology and syntax in Cuzco and
Puno Quechua. Speakers of Bolivian Quechua residing in theAmsterdam area contri
bute to van de Kerke's work.
As a student at the General Linguistics Department of theUniversity of Amster
dam, Lucie de Vries made a comparative study of the language policies pursued by the
Bolivian, Ecuadorean and Peruvian governments with respect to Quechua.
58
59
Courses
At present, only Leiden University offers regular courses in American Indian lan
guages. Students can choose between three curricula, Languages and Cultures of Latin
America (sub-curriculum Indian Cultures), Amerindian Comparative Linguistics and
Precolumbian Archaeology. The study of at least one American Indian language is a
compulsory part of each programme. For theAmerindian Comparative Linguistics
curriculum, three native American are In recent years, courses
languages required.
have been given inSurinam Carib (byHoff), Mixtec (byMrs. Perez, a native speaker of
that language) and inAyacucho (Peruvian) Quechua, Ecudorean Quichua, Guarani,
Mapuche, Ch'ol and Yucatec (by the present author). Quechua language and literature
is taught on an annual basis. An introductory course inNew World ethnolinguistics is
offered every two years. Until recently, van Zantwijk has taught Classical Nahuatl at
the University of Amsterdam.
In recent years, there has been increasing cooperation between the various branches
of American Indian Studies at Leiden. It is now felt that neither linguists nor archaeo
logists and anthropologists can operate in the New World without being concerned
with the life and culture of present-day native American communities. Knowledge of
the language used by such communities has come to be considered a prerequisite for
understanding their cultural and religious concepts.
Willem Adelaar teaches in theComparative Linguistics Department, University of Leiden, and has been engaged
in research in native American languages since 1967. His research experience includes linguistic fieldwork in
Peru and descriptive work carried out with speakers of native American Languages residing in theNetherlands.
He has published monographs on two central Peruvian dialects of Quechua (Tarma Quechua, 7977; Morfologia
del quechua de Pacaraos, 1987).
60