A Record of Study in Aboriginal American Languages

The Mazatec language of Oaxaca, is examined for the first time in (56) from material supplied me by Mr. A. Pinart. It is shown to have relations with the Chapanecan and others with Costa Rican tongues.

The article on the Chinantec, (56) a little-known tongue of Oaxaca, is an analysis of its forms and a vocabulary from the Doctrina of Father Barreda and notes of Dr. Berendt.

The Cakchiquels occupied most of the soil of Guatemala at the period of the Conquest, and their tongue was that chosen to be the “Metropolitan” language of the diocess. In (53) I gave a translation of an unpublished grammar of it, the MS. being one in the archives of the American Philosophical Society. In some respects it is superior to the grammar of Flores.

The higher culture of the tribes of Central America and Mexico gives a special interest to the study of their languages, oral and written; for with some of them we find moderately well-developed methods of recording ideas.

Much of this culture was intimately connected with their astrological methods and these with their calendar. This remarkable artificial computation of time, based on the relations of the numerals 13 and 20 applied to various periods, was practically the same among the Mayas, Nahuas, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Chapanecs, Otomis and Tarascos – seven different linguistic stocks – and unknown elsewhere on the globe. The study of it (30) is exclusively from its linguistic and symbolic side.

It is strange that nowhere in North America was any measure of weight known to the natives. Their lineal measures were drawn chiefly from the proportions of the human body. They are investigated in (31).

Under the names Chontalli and Popoluca, both Nahuatl words indicating “foreigners,” ethnographers have included tribes of wholly diverse lineage. In (32) I have shown that some are Tzentals, others Tequistlatecas, Ulvas, Mixes, Zapotecs, Nahuas, Lencas and Cakchiquels, thus doing away with the confusion introduced by these inappropriate ethnic terms.

No. (33) is an article for the use of students of the Nahuatl language, mentioning the principal grammars, dictionaries and text-books which are available.

The numbers (34), (35), (36), (37), (38), (39), (40) and (41), are devoted to the methods of writing invented by the cultured natives of Mexico and Central America in order to preserve their literature, such as it was. The methods are various, that of the Nahuas not being identical with that of the Mayas. The former is largely phonetic, but in a peculiar manner, for which I have proposed the term of “ikonomatic,” the principle being that of the rebus. That this method can be successfully applied to the decipherment of inscriptions I demonstrated in the translation of one which is quite celebrated, the “Stone of the Giants” at Orizaba, Mexico (41). The translation I proposed has been fully accepted.13

The “Primer of Mayan Hieroglyphics” (39) was intended as a summary of what had been achieved up to that time (1895) by students in this branch. It endeavored, moreover, to render to each student the credit of his independent work; and as, unfortunately, some, notably in Germany, had put forward as their own what belonged to others of earlier date, the book naturally was not very well treated by such reviewers. Its aim, however, to present a concise and fair statement of what had been accomplished in its field up to the date of its publication was generally conceded to have been attained.

Much of the considerable manuscript material which I have accumulated on the languages of this section of the continent was obtained from the collections of the late Dr. Carl Hermann Berendt and the Abbé E. C. Brasseur (de Bourbourg).

When in Spain, in 1888, I found in the Royal Library the MS. of the earlier portion of Sahagun’s “History of New Spain” in Nahuatl. I described it in (42).

The term “Anahuac” has long been applied to the territory of Mexico. Dr. E. Seler, of Berlin, published an article asserting that this was an error, and devoid of native authority. In (43) I pointed out that in this he was wrong, as early Nahuatl records use it in this sense.

The Alaguilac language of Guatemala, long a puzzle to linguistics, is shown in (44) to be an isolated dialect of the Nahuatl.

Nos. (45), (46), (47), (49) and (54), have been already mentioned.

The term Chilan balam, which may be freely rendered “the inspired speaker,” was the title of certain priests of the native Mayas. Many records in the Maya tongue, written after the conquests, go by the name of “the Books of Chilan Balam.” They have never been published, but copies of them, made by Dr. Berendt, are in my possession. Their purpose and contents were described in (50).

There are reasons for believing that previous to the arrival of the Cakchiquels in Guatemala its area was largely peopled by Xincas. Of this little-known stock I present in (58) three extended vocabularies, from unpublished sources, with comments on the “culture-words.”

Some apparent but no decisive affinities between the Otomi of Mexico and the Tinné or Athapascan dialects are shown in (55); and in (59) the ancient Guetares of Costa Rica are proved, on linguistic evidence, to have been members of the Talamancan linguistic stock.

The Matagalpan is an interesting family, first defined in The American Race, and in (60) more fully discussed, as they survive in San Salvador.

In (61) some unpublished vocabularies from the tribe of the Ramas, on the Mosquito coast, place them as members of the Changuina stock, most of whom dwelt on the Isthmus of Panama.

IV. South American and Antillean Languages

62. Remarks on the MS. Arawack Vocabulary of Schultz. In Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1869.

63. The Arawack Language of Guiana in its Linguistic and Ethnological Relations. In Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 1871.

64. Studies in South American Languages. pp. 67. In Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1892.

65. Some words from the Andagueda dialect of the Choco stock. In Proceedings of American Philosophical Society, November, 1897.

66. Vocabulary of the Noanama dialect of the Choco stock. In Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, November, 1896.

67. Note on the Puquina Language of Peru. In Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, November, 1890.

68. Further Notes on the Betoya dialects. In Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, October, 1892.

69. The Linguistic Cartography of the Chaco Region. In Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, October, 1898.

70. Further Notes on Fuegian Languages. In Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 1892.

71. On two recent, unclassified Vocabularies from South America. In Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, October, 1898.

The library of the American Philosophical Society contains a MS. copy of the Arawack vocabulary of the missionary Schultz, the same work, apparently, which was edited from another copy by M. Lucien Adam in 1882. A study of this MS. led me to discover the identity of the so-called “Lucayan” of the Bahamas, the language of Cuba, fragments of which have been presented, and the “Taino” of Haiti, with the Arawack. They had previously been considered either of Mayan or Caribbean affinities. The results are presented in (63).

The “Studies” in (64) are ten in number. No. I. is on the Tacana language and its dialects, and is the only attempt, up to the present time, to determine the boundaries and character of this tongue. Texts and a vocabulary in five of its dialects are given. No. II. is on the Jivaro or Xebero tongue, and is entirely from unpublished sources. A grammatical sketch, texts and a vocabulary give a moderately complete material for comparison. No. III. presents the first printed account of the Cholona language on the River Huallaga, drawn from MSS. in the British Museum. In No. IV. is a discussion of the relations of the Leca language spoken on the Rio Mapiri. No. V. contains a text of some length in the Manao dialect of the Arawack stock, the original MS. being in the British Museum. The Bonaris are an extinct tribe of the Carib stock. No. VI. contains the only vocabulary which has been preserved of their dialect. On a loose sheet in the British Museum, among papers on Patagonia, I found a short vocabulary in a tongue called “Hongote,” which I could not locate and hence published it in No. VII. It subsequently proved to be one of the North Pacific Coast languages. The same “Study” presents a comparative vocabulary in fourteen Patagonian dialects, with notes (Tsoneca, Tehuelche, Puelche, Tekennika (Yahgan), Alikuluf, etc.). In Study No. VIII. are discussed the various dialects of the Kechua or Quichua tongue of Peru, with an unpublished text from the Pacasa dialect. No. IX. examines the affinities which have been noted between the languages of North and South America, especially in the Mazatec and Costa Rican dialects of the northern Continent. Finally, No. X. aims to define for the first time the linguistic stock to which belong the dialects of the Betoyas, Tucanos, Zeonas and other tribes on the rivers Napo, Meta, Apure and their confluents. Further information on this stock is given in (68).

The Choco stock extends widely over the northwest angle of the southern continent. In (65) and (66) I have printed short vocabularies of some of its dialects secured for me from living natives by Mr. Henry G. Granger.

The Puquina language of Peru was quite unknown to linguists when, in 1890, I published the article (67) containing material in it from the extremely rare work of Geronimo de Ore, entitled Rituale Peruanum (Naples, 1607). Since then an extended essay upon it has been written by M. de la Grasserie.

In the “Further Notes on the Fuegian Languages” (70), I have printed an Alikuluf vocabulary of 1695, with comparisons, and given a vocabulary of the idiom of the Onas, pointing out some affinities with the Yahgan.

Few linguistic areas on the continent have been more obscure than that called “El Gran Chaco,” in northern Argentina and southern Bolivia. In (69) I have mapped the area from 20° to 30° south latitude and 56° to 66° west longitude, defining the boundaries of each of the seven linguistic stocks which occupied it, to wit, the Ennima, Guaycuru, Lule, Mataco, Quechua, Samucu and Tupi, with discussions of some uncertain dialects, as the Calchaqui, Lengua, Querandi, Charua, Payagua.

In (70) recent vocabularies of the Andoa and Cataquina tongues are examined and their linguistic relations discussed.

Many of the above articles, written previous to 1890, were collected by me in that year and published in a volume entitled “Essays of an Americanist” (pp. 489. Philadelphia). For the convenience of those who may wish to refer to them I add here a complete list of the essays which it contains.

Part I. – Ethnologic and Archæologic. – A Review of the Data for the Study of the Prehistoric Chronology of America. On Palæoliths, American and others. On the alleged Mongolian Affinities of the American Race. The Probable Nationality of the Mound-Builders of the Ohio Valley. The Toltecs of Mexico and their Fabulous Empire.

Part II. – Mythology and Folk-lore. – The Sacred Names in the Mythology of the Quiches of Guatemala. The Hero-God of the Algonkins as a Cheat and Liar. The Journey of the Soul in Egyptian, Aryan and American Mythology. The Sacred Symbols of the Cross, the Svastika and the Triqetrum in America. The Modern Folk-lore of the Natives of Yucatan. The Folk-lore of the Modern Lênapé Indians.

Part III. – Graphic Systems and Literature. – The Phonetic Elements in the Hieroglyphs of the Mayas and Mexicans. The Ikonomatic Method of Phonetic Writing used by the Ancient Mexicans. The Writings and Records of the Ancient Mayas of Yucatan. The Books of Chilan Balam, the Sacred Volume of the Modern Mayas. Translation of the Inscription on “The Stone of The Giants” at Orizaba, Mexico. The Poetry of the American Indians, with Numerous Examples.

Part IV. – Linguistic. – American Aboriginal Languages, and why we should study them. Wilhelm von Humboldt’s Researches in American Languages. Some Characteristics of American Languages. The Earliest Form of Human Speech, as Revealed by American Languages. The Conception of Love, as expressed in some American Languages. The Lineal Measures of the Semi-Civilized Nations of Mexico and Central America. The Curious Hoax about the Taensa Language.

1

Beiträge zur Lehre der Wortzusammensetzung. Leiden. 1896.

2

In this connection I would refer students to an instructive passage of Heinrich Wrinkler on “Die Hauptformen in den Amerikanischen Sprachen,” in his work Zur Sprachgeschichte (Berlin, 1887) and to his essay on the Pokonchi Language in his Weiteres zur Sprachgeschichte, (Berlin, 1889).

3

See my remarks on this tongue in the American Anthropologist, August, 1898, p. 251.

4

Interesting examples in the Preface to S. T. Rand’s Micmac Dictionary (Halifax, 1888).

5

Notably with Steinthal’s Charakteristik des hauptsächlichsten Typen des Sprachbaues.

6

The Myths of the New World (third edition, 1896); American Hero Myths (1881).

7

Life and Traditions of the Red Man (Bangor, 1893).

8

New Views of the Origin of the Tribes of America (Philadelphia, 1798).

9

Actas del Congreso Internacional de Americanistas, Tom. II., pp. 310-315.

10

See the article “The Curious Hoax of the Taensa Language,” in my Essays of an Americanist, pp. 452-467. (Philadelphia, 1890.)

11

In Tome XI., of the Bibliothêque Linguistique Américaine.

12

Privately printed, 1867.

13

See Garrick Mallery in 10th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 133, sqq. (Washington, 1893).