[X] Anthropological Linguistics

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Vol. 47, no. 4 (Winter 2005)

Contents

Articles

Linguistic Evidence for a Prehistoric Polynesia-Southern California Contact Event Kathryn A. Klar and Terry L. Jones 369

Lexical Retention and Cultural Significance in Chol (Mayan) Ritual Vocabulary J. Kathryn Josserand and Nicholas A. Hopkins 401

The Innovation of s in Kulina and Deni Stefan Dienst 424

Book Reviews
Magical Writing in Salasaca: Literacy and Power in Highland Ecuador (Peter Wogan) José R. Jouve-Martin 442
A Dictionary of the Hualapai Language (Lucille J. Watahomigie, Jorigine Bender, Malinda Powskey, Josie Steele, Philbert Watahomigie, Sr., and Akira Y. Yamamoto) Mauricio J. Mixco 444
Otto Dempwolff's Grammar of the Jabêm Language in New Guinea (Joel Bradshaw and Francisc Czobor) Malcolm D. Ross 447
Contact Englishes of the Eastern Caribbean (Michael Aceto and Jeffrey P. Williams, editors) James A. Walker 450
Languages and Prehistory of Central Siberia (Edward J. Vajda, editor) Michael Fortescue 452
Nart Sagas from the Caucasus: Myths and Legends from the Circassians, Abazas, Abkhaz, and Ubykhs (John Colarusso, compiler, translator, and annotator) Jost Gippert 455
Publications Received 458

Abstracts

Linguistic Evidence for a Prehistoric Polynesia-Southern California Contact Event

Kathryn A. Klar
University of California, Berkeley

Terry L. Jones
California Polytechnic State University

Abstract. We describe linguistic evidence for at least one episode of prehistoric contact between Polynesia and Native California, proposing that a borrowed Proto-Central Eastern Polynesian lexical compound was realized as Chumashan tomol 'plank canoe' and its dialect variants. Similarly, we suggest that the Gabrielino borrowed two Polynesian forms to designate the 'sewn-plank canoe' and 'boat' (in general, though probably specifically a dugout). Where the Chumashan form speaks to the material from which plank canoes were made, the Gabrielino forms specifically referred to the techniques (adzing, piercing, sewing). We do not suggest that there is any genetic relationship between Polynesian languages and Chumashan or Gabrielino, only that the linguistic data strongly suggest at least one prehistoric contact event.

Lexical Retention and Cultural Significance in Chol (Mayan) Ritual Vocabulary

J. Kathryn Josserand
Florida State University

Nicholas A. Hopkins
Jaguar Tours

Abstract. Thousands of pilgrims come each year to make offerings and present petitions to the Señor de Tila 'Lord of Tila' in Chiapas, Mexico. This cult has incorporated pre-Columbian cave worship focused on the Earth Lord. The conservative nature of worship is matched by conservatism in the ritual vocabulary of Tila Chol. Several terms for deities, offices, paraphernalia, and ceremonial activities are archaisms, and these index core concepts in native religious practice. Early loanwords from Spanish likewise index key concepts in Christianity, suggesting that the systematic analysis of archaic vocabulary can be a useful tool in the reconstruction of culture history.

The Innovation of s in Kulina and Deni

Stefan Dienst
Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University

Abstract. Kulina and Deni of the Arawan language family of western Amazonia have a set of three alveolar affricates. The voiceless unaspirated affricate is a recent innovation due to language contact. The modern affricates have been phonetically shifted, emulating the three-way voicing distinction of the stops.

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