Uto-Aztecan Argument Analysis

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For the past few centuries, there have been arguments concerning issues in Uto-Aztecan linguistics prehistory. There are especially disagreements with regard to the arrival of Uto-Aztecan speakers to what is known as Mesoamerica. Some of the more recent papers published with regard to this topic are from Dakin and Wichmann (2000) and Kaufman and Justeson (2007, 2009). Both papers discuss and suggest various findings and arguments about Uto-Aztecan linguistics. This paper will serve to discuss the findings in each of these papers and conclude on which may be a better argument.
Introduction
To begin, the Uto-Aztecan languages make up one of the largest and most widespread language families in the Western Hemisphere. These languages were …show more content…

These languages can be broken down into nine subfamilies: Numic, Hopi, Tubatulabal and Takic can be grouped as Northern Uto-Aztecan (NUA) and Tepiman, Taracahitan, Tuber, Corachol and Aztecan can be grouped as Southern Uto-Aztecan (SUA). Merrill (2013) also argues that the SUA languages were derived from Proto-Southern Uto-Aztecan.
Generally, there is a lack of agreement among scholars on the classification of the Uto-Aztecan languages. This lack of agreement mainly revolves around the family-tree approach and the wave/mesh approach. The family-tree approach assumes that there are sudden splits within a dialect-free parent. This approach recognizes three branches: Shoshonean, Sonoran and Nahuatl or Aztecan. The variant of this approach would group Sonoran and Aztecan into a single branch called Southern Uto-Aztecan and then Shoshonean would be named Northern Uto-Aztecan. The wave approach assumes a dialect continuum which dissolves into distinct languages in which the newer languages reflect the earlier dialect interrelationships. This principle operated in Uto-Aztecan than some other families. This approach also views Uto-Aztecan as being composed of eight or more independent branches. It also views Shoshonean as consisting of four branch and Sonoran as three or more …show more content…

The Northern family in southern California, the Great basin and nearby areas while the Southern one stretches from southern Arizona through northwest Mexico into central Mexico and beyond. Kroeber (1907) constructed the first comprehensive classification of the Shoshonean languages. His evidence showed a lexicon consisting of over one-hundred words for almost twenty languages and dialects. Koreber (1934) and Mason (1936) were two of the first researchers to provide classifications of the Mexican languages based on data. In 1962, Voegelin and Hale reconstructed intermediate protolanguages for Shoshonean and Sonoran and claimed that this supported the three-branch approach. The geographic discontinuity between Northern and Sonoran Languages were evidence of expansion north and east which caused a geographic break in the

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