Proto-Chon Cultural Reconstructions from the vocabulary

J. PEDRO VIEGAS BARROS

Leipzig

Workshop; International Workshop 'Historical linguistics and hunter-gatherer populations in global perspective'; 2006

Max Planck Institute for evolutionary Anthropology

The progress in the reconstruction of Proto-Chon vocabulary allows us now to glimpse at the Proto-Chon culture. I will consider mainly cognate words in ?on one hand- at least one Tierra del Fuego?s language (i.e., Haush and/or Selknam) and in -on the other- one mainland`s language (i.e., Tehuelche and/or Teushen): such cognate items cannot to be loanwords. But some borrowings will also be considered, because these lexical elements can provide interesting information not only about the kind and intensity of prehistoric contacts with other peoples and languages, but also about such phenomena as linguistic replacements in particular semantical areas. I present conclusions about flora, fauna, economy, technological level, family and social organization, and social traditions.