Coastlines, Mountains, Linguistic Diversity, or Subaltern Trade Networks: Hypothesizing Sources of Language Isolates in the Isthmus of Oaxaca

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Bringing the Past to Life, Part 1: Papers in Honor of John M. D. Pohl" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

As a linguist and specialist in the languages and cultures of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and Oaxaca, I have long considered that one of the most intriguing hypotheses Dr. Pohl has presented has been on potential maritime networks which might explain the presence of language isolates (Chontal and Huave) in the Isthmus and the settlement patterns along the Pacific Coast of Mesoamerica. The current paper investigates this hypothesis in light of more general hypotheses around the diversification of languages (and subsequent decline in linguistic diversity) and the location of language isolates (Nettle 1999; Urban 2021; Van Gijn et al. 2022) and patterns more specific to the northwest Amazon. In fact, similar to findings by Epps (2020) we find that in the case of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in particular, linguistic diversity, while a good predictor for the presence of language isolates, fails to predict the actual reasons behind the presence of these two isolates. Similarly, geographic explanations also fail. In general, other factors such as the trade networks proposed by Dr. Pohl with the corresponding sociocultural importance of the subaltern nature of said networks may provide better and deeper complementary explanatory power.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Bringing the Past to Life, Part 1: Papers in Honor of John M. D. Pohl   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39004.0