Lexical Evidence for Pre-Inca Language Contact of Mapudungun (Mapuche) with Quechuan and Aymaran

Abstract

Mapudungun, often also called Mapuche, is a language isolate spoken in southern Chile and parts of Argentina. It presents structural, phonological and phonotactic similarities to the central Andean Quechuan and Aymaran language families. Many lexical items of Mapudungun have obviously been borrowed from Quechuan and Aymaran during or after the Inca presence in northern Mapuche territory. However, recent language contact may not be the only source of lexical parallels. The aim of the present article is to uncover evidence for alternative scenarios that could account for these parallels. As such, four exemplary Mapudungun roots clearly related to Quechuan and/or Aymaran roots are discussed in detail. First, the possibility that the respective lexical parallels are recent borrowings should be excluded. Second, it must be decided whether there is any evidence for the proposal that the respective Quechuan/Aymaran roots have been transferred into Mapudungun vocabulary via surrounding languages. The two-step approach developed here may undergo further refinement in future investigations of language contact in the Americas and elsewhere.

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