American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America

TLDR

Native American languages span from Siberia to Greenland and from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego, yet consensus is limited because Greenberg’s 1987 proposal of a single migration wave linking all languages remains controversial. The book aims to respond to Greenberg’s hypothesis by reviewing the state of American Indian historical linguistics and evaluating its methodologies. It surveys existing knowledge on Native American language history and critically assesses the methodologies used in the field. Campbell shows that the field has consistently employed contemporary methods and theories, contrary to claims that it has lagged behind European historical linguistics.

Abstract

Native American languages are spoken from Siberia to Greenland, and from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego; they include the southernmost language of the world (Yaghan) and some of the northernmost (Eskimoan). This work takes stock of what is currently known about the history of Native American languages and in the process examines the state of American Indian historical linguistics, and the success and failure of its various methodologies. There is remarkably little consensus in the field, largely due to the 1987 publication of Language in the Americas by Joseph Greenberg. He claimed to trace a historical relation between all American Indian languages of North and South America, implying that most of the Western Hemisphere was settled by a single wave of immigration from Asia. This has caused intense controversy and Campbell intends this volume to be a response to Greenberg. Finally, Campbell demonstrates that the historical study of Native American languages has always relied on up-to-date methodology and theoretical assumptions and did not, as is often believed, lag behind the European historical linguistic tradition.