Bayesian phylogeography of the Arawak expansion in lowland South America

Abstract

Phylogenetic inference based on language is a vital tool for tracing the dynamics of human population expansions. The timescale of agriculture-based expansions around the world provides an informative amount of linguistic change ideal for reconstructing phylogeographies. Here we investigate the expansion of Arawak, one of the most widely dispersed language families in the Americas, scattered from the Antilles to Argentina. It has been suggested that Northwest Amazonia is the Arawak homeland based on the large number of diverse languages in the region. We generate language trees by coding cognates of basic vocabulary words for 60 Arawak languages and dialects to estimate the phylogenetic relationships among Arawak societies, while simultaneously implementing a relaxed random walk model to infer phylogeographic history. Estimates of the Arawak homeland exclude Northwest Amazonia and are bi-modal, with one potential homeland on the Atlantic seaboard and another more likely origin in Western Amazonia. Bayesian phylogeography better supports a Western Amazonian origin, and consequent dispersal to the Caribbean and across the lowlands. Importantly, the Arawak expansion carried with it not only language but also a number of cultural traits that contrast Arawak societies with other lowland cultures.

Mitochondrial DNA analysis suggests a Chibchan migration into Colombia

“…Here, it is significant to note the high frequency of C within the Arawakan-speaking Wayuu population, despite their close geographic proximity to the Chibchanspeaking populations of the SNSM (consisting of the Ijka, Kogui, and Arsario) in which haplogroup A predominates (Melton et al 2007). The prevalence of C amongst the Wayuu may also support the notion that they share genetic affinity with other indigenous groups from the Amazonian region, where haplogroup C likewise predominates and in (or near) which the Arawakan languages are thought to have originated (Aikhenvald 1999(Aikhenvald , 2006Walker & Ribeiro 2011).…”

BetweenAndes andAmazon: The genetic profile of theArawak‐speakingYanesha

“…This older signal points towards populations genetically close (within the available published data) to others far down the Amazon and into the Guianas, matching the second of Walker and Ribeiro's "bi-modal" estimates for the Arawak homeland (2011). The Yanesha case only confirms the need to test the rival theories of Arawak origins on fuller data-sets that target coverage of the hypothesized homelands currently in northern (Aikhenvald, 1999) or western (Walker and Ribeiro, 2011) Amazonia.…”

“…The traditional hypothesis places the homeland in the northern Amazon, between the Rio Negro and Orinoco, emerging from there in an agriculture-based demic expansion, primarily along major rivers, from c. 500 BCE (Aikhenvald, 1999). Walker and Ribeiro (2011), however, argue instead for Western Amazonia, based on a Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of basic lexical data from across the family, and propose manioc cultivation as a potential driver for population expansion. Others downplay the role of demographic growth and argue that Arawak dispersal was more through trade and cultural prestige (e.g., Hornborg et al, 2005).…”

High-frequency contrastive grammar features of the Uralic languages

“…The present study is based on the method of phylogeography first described in (Hickerson et al, 2010) Walker and L.A. Ribeiro (2011). Given that, we, still, believe that the term "geophylogeny" is more suitable.…”