Language classification, language contact and Andean prehistory: The North

Abstract

The northern half of the Andes—from Venezuela to Northern Peru—has seen dramatic losses of language diversity since the 16th century. Even so, the region's linguistic fabric is complex and multifaceted, and the impression of relatively low levels of diversity vis‐à‐vis Amazonia is to a perhaps considerable extent the result of different post‐conquest trajectories rather than a reflection of pre‐existing differences. As in Amazonia, branches of widespread families—Chibchan, Quechuan, but also far western outliers of Cariban—coexist with more local language families—principally Barbacoan and Chocoan—as well as a multitude of isolates, in particular on the eastern lowland‐facing slopes of the Andes. Recent and ongoing projects of language documentation and description, as well as reconstitution of colonial sources, are contributing to profiling the linguistic diversity more sharply and more securely. Even at the present state of research, it is patent that the patchwork of languages of the Northern Andes, where evidence is available, evinces strong hallmarks of micro‐ and meso‐level language contact, leading to the emergence of distinctive profiles on regional levels that call into question the idea of a reified ‘Andean’ language type. Furthermore, there is a striking signal of spatially structured typological variation throughout the Andes that is in need of explanation and interdisciplinary contextualization. This article surveys the state of the art on language classification and language contact studies for the Northern Andes, and also discusses how they may inform an interdisciplinary prehistory.