ON THE PUELCHEAN AND TSONEKAN (TEHUELCHEAN), THE ATACAMEÑAN (ATACAMAN) AND CHONOAN, AND THE CHARRUAN LINGUISTIC STOCKS OF SOUTH AMERICA

TH

BY ALEXANDER F. CHAMBERLAIN

I. PUELCHEAN AND TSONEKAN

HE linguistic relationships of the numerous Indian tribes now or in times past inhabiting what constitutes at present the territory of the Argentine Republic have been the subject of much discussion, and widely divergent opinions have been expressed, even by good authorities, on some of the points involved. The very existence, indeed, of the Puelchean and Tsonekan or Tehuelchean as distinct families of speech has been denied and these languages attached to the Araucanian, etc. But the evidence in hand justifies the recognition of the Puelchean and Tsonekan as independent linguistic stocks, and they are so listed here.

Puelchean

The territory of the Puelchean stock lies in central and eastern Argentina, from the foot-hills of the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean— now particularly in the region between the Rio Colorado and the Rio Negro. Outes and Bruch (p. 105) define their area as follows: "At the time of the conquest, the Puelches occupied the Province of Buenos Aires (except the country of the Querandíes), the Government of the Pampa, the south of Mendoza, San Luis and part of Córdoba, and the region of the Government of Rio Negro lying between that river and the Rio Colorado. They were divided into three groups: Taluhets, Diuihets, and Chechehets." Concerning the affinities of the Indians known as "Puelches" much difference of opinion has prevailed. D'Orbigny sought to identify them with the ancient Querandíes, etc. Ludewig (Lit. Amer. Abor. Lang., 1858, p. 155) notes their supposed relationship to "the wild Charruas." In 1891 Brinton (Amer. Race, p. 326) included them as a

branch of his Aucanian (i. e., Araucanian) stock, but later (1892) seems to have believed in Tsonekan (Tehuelchean) affinities. Deniker (Races of Man, 1900, p. 74) regards the Puelches as a "new tribe, sprung from the Patagonians and the Araucans, with a strain of Guaycuru blood." Ehrenreich (1905) gives the Puelches an independent status. Schuller (1906) classifies the Puelches, Tehuelches, etc., all under the head of "Pampas," but incorrectly. The term "Pampas Indians," or simply "Pampas," is often synonymous with the whole or a part of the Puelchean stock, especially the ancient or extinct sections of it. The Diuihet and the Chechehet are termed "Pampas" by the Spanish writers. The burden of evidence in favor of the independent status of this stock has not changed essentially since Hale (in 1840), and, before him, d'Orbigny, distinguished the Puelches from the Tehuelches; and the Salesian missionary D. Milanesio has again (1898) proved the utterly unrelated character of the Araucanian, the "Pampan," and the Tsonekan (Tehuelchean) languages. Outes and Bruch (1910, p. 105), however, still express the opinion that "the language of the Puelches, as yet not studied, seems to be a co-dialect of Patagonian or Tehuelche, but with considerable difference in vocabulary."

The most important literature concerning the Puelchean linguistic stock will be found in the following titles:

1. BARBARA, F. Usos y costumbres de los Indios Pampas y algunos apuntes. históricos sobre la guerra de la frontera. Buenos Aires, 1856. Pp. 98. Manual ò Vocabulario de la lengua Pampa y del estilo familiar. Buenos Aires, 1879. Pp. 178.

2.

3. BRINTON, D. G. Studies in South American Native Languages. Phila., 1892. Pp. 67. Also in Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., vol. xxx, 1892, pp. 45-105. 4. HALE, H. United States Exploring Expedition. During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, under command of Charles Wilkes. Vol. VI, Ethnography and Philology. Phila., 1846. Pp. xii, 666.

5. LAFONE-QUE VEDO, S. A. La raza pampeana y la raza guaraní, ò los indios del Rio de la Plata en el siglo XVI. Congr. Científ. Lat.-Amer. (Buenos Aires, 1900), vol. v, pp. 21 ff.

6. MILANESIO, D. La Patagonia. Lingua, industria, costumi e religione. Buenos Aires, 1898. Pp. 56.

7. D'ORBIGNY, A. L'Homme Américain (Voy. d. l'Amér. Mérid., T. iv), Paris, 1839.

8. OUTES, F. F. Los Querandíes. Contribución al Estudio de la Etnografía Argentina. Buenos Aires, 1897. Pp. xii, 204.

9. OUTES, F. F. Etnografía Argentina. Segunda Contribución al Estudio de los Indios Querandíes. Buenos Aires, 1898.

IO.

y BRUCH, C. Los Aborigines de la República Argentina. Buenos Aires, 1910. Pp. 149. See pp. 105-106.

11. DE Rozas, J. M. Gramática y Diccionario de la lengua Pampa. Ms. begun ca. 1868.

The Puelchean words cited by Brinton (pp. 49-50) are from d'Orbigny and Hale. The vocabulary given by d'Orbigny (p. 80) consists of 23 words. Hale has a Puelche vocabulary and sentences (pp. 653-656) in comparison with Tehuelche,-"Pampas and Tehuiliche." Pages 92-98 of Barbara's Usos y Costumbres treat of "the Indian language," and some dialogues in Puelche and Spanish are given. In his Manual, Barbara gives rather extensive material. Father Milanesio, who had been for fifteen years a missionary in southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, discusses the three languages, Araucanian, Tehuelche, and Pampa proper, all of which he recognizes as distinct from one another (the Puelche he terms "Pampa-Tehuelche" or "Pampa proper"). A comparative vocabulary of all three is given. At the Seventeenth International Congress of Americanists, held at Buenos Aires, May 16–21, 1911, Sr Adolfo Saldias of Buenos Aires, described briefly a manuscript grammar and dictionary of "the Pampa language," which had come into his possession with other Mss. from the family of Gen. Rozas. The general, whose acquaintance with these Indians was of long standing, began this grammar and dictionary about 1868. The stock-name Puelchean is derived from Puelche, the name given to these Indians by their Araucanian neighbors, in whose language the term signifies "eastern people."

Tsonekan (Tehuelchean)

The territory of the Tsonekan or Tehuelchean linguistic stock embraces the whole of Patagonia from the Rio Negro to the Straits of Magellan, over which these Indians have wandered for centuries. Formerly very numerous, they count now probably less than 2,000 souls.

The principal literature concerning the Tsonekan linguistic stock is contained in the following titles:

1. Brinton, D. G. The American Race. N. Y., 1891. Pp. xvi, 392.

2. BRINTON, D. G. The Hongote Language and the Patagonian Dialects. In his Studies in South American Native Languages (Phila., 1892), pp. 45-52. 3. Cox, G. E. Viaje en las regiones septentrionales de la Patagonía, 1862–1863. Santiago de Chile, 1863. Pp. viii, 273.

4. Descripción de Puerto Deseado en la costa Patagónica con el vocabulario de los Patagones, 2 Diciembre, 1789. Ms. in British Museum, forming pp. 42-49 of Add. 17, 631. Title given by de la Viñaza (Bibl. Esp. d. Lenguas Indíg., 1892, p. 179).

5. Diccionario de la lengua Patagónica. Ms. (of end of 18th cent.), forming pp. 36-39, of Add. 17, 631, British Museum. Title given by de la Viñaza (p. 280).

6. FITZ-ROY, R. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of his Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the Years 1826 and 1836, etc. Lond., 1839. 3 vols., Append. and Addend.

7. de la GrasSERIE, R. De la langue Tehuelche. Internat. Amerik.-Kongr., XIV. (Stuttgart, 1904), 1906, pp. 611-647.

8. HALE, H. Op. cit.

9. LEHMANN-NITSCHE, R. Verzeichnis der Wörterbucher der patagonischen Sprache. Append. B. of Zur Vorgeschichte der Entdeckung vom Gryptotherium bei Ultima Esperanza in Naturw. Wchnschr., XV, 1900, pp. 385-392, 409-414, 426-428 (Naturwiss. Abhand., Heft 29, Berlin, 1901, pp. 4-47).

IO.

Two Linguistic Treatises on the Patagonian or Tehuelche Language by Theophilus Schmid, Catechist of the Patagonian Missionary Society. Edited, with an Introduction, by Robert Lehmann-Nitsche. Buenos Aires, 1910. Pp. 58, 41.

II. LISTA, R. Viaje al país de los Tehuelches. Exploraciones de la Patagonía austral. Primera parte. Buenos Aires, 1879. Pp. 82.

12.

13.

14.

Mis exploraciones y descubrimientos en Patagonía, 1877-1878. Buenos Aires, 1880.

Una raza que desaparece. Los indios Tehuelches. Estudio etnológico sobre los Tehuelches, según observaciones propias. Buenos Aires, 1894.

Pp. 125.

-.

Lenguas argentinas. Los Tehuelches de la Patagonía. Anales de la Soc. Científ. Argent. (Buenos Aires), 1896.

15. VON MARTIUS, C. F. P. Beiträge zur Ethnographie und Sprachenkunde Amerikas zumal Brasiliens. Bd. II. Sprachenkunde. Wörtersammlung Brasilianischer Sprachen. Leipzig, 1867. Pp. xxi, 548.

16. MILANESIO, D. Op. cit.

17. MITRE, B. Catálogo razonado de la Sección Lenguas Americanas. Con una Introducción de Luis Maria Torres. Tomo I. Buenos Aires, 1909. Pp. xliii, 411.

18. Moreno, F. P. Recuerdos de viaje en Patagonía. Montevideo, 1882.

Pp. 46.

19. MORENO, F. P. Viaje a la Patagonía austral. Vol. I.

Pp. viii, 460, iv.

Buenos Aires, 1879.

20. MÜLLER, F. Die Sprache der südlichen Tehuel-het (Tsoneka). Grundr. d. Sprachwiss., II Bd., 1 Abt. Wien, 1882. Pp. 424–428.

21. MUSTERS, G. C. At Home with the Patagonians. A Year's Wanderings over Untrodden Ground from the Straits of Magellan to the Rio Negro. Lond., 1871. Pp. 320. Sec. Ed. (Lond., 1873). Pp. xix, 340.

22. D'ORBIGNY, A. Op. cit.

23.

Vocabulaire de la langue des Tehuelches.

Ms. in the Bibliothèque

Nationale, Paris. It has been published by de la Grasserie, R. (q.v.).

24. OUTES, F. F. y BRUCH, C. Los Aborigines de la República Argentina. Buenos Aires, 1910, Pp. 149. See pp. 11-129.

25. PIGAFETTA, A. Premier voyage autour du monde, sur l'escadre de Magellan, pendant les années 1519, 20, 21 et 22. Paris, l'an IX (1800). Pp. lxiv, 416. 26. PLATZMANN, J. Der Sprachstoff der patagonischen Grammatik des Theophilus Schmid. Mit einer Karte des südlichen Amerika. Leipzig, 1903. Pp. 130. See Lehmann-Nitsche, R.

27. Raccolta di documenti e studi pel quarto centenario dalla scoperta dall' America. Parte v, vol. III. Roma, 1894.

28. SCHMID, T. Vocabulary and Rudiments of Grammar of the Tsoneca Language. Bristol (Eng.), 1860. Pp. iv, 47.

29.

30.

Tehuelche Grammar. Ms. (English), pp. 40. Also Spanish translation (pp. 4). Both printed in Mitre (q.v.).

See Lehmann-Nitsche, R.; Platzmann J.

31. VIEDMA, A. Diario de viaje a la costa patagónica. In de Angelis, P.: Colección de obras y documentos relativos a la historía antigua y moderna de la Provincia del Rio de la Plata., 6 vols. Buenos Aires, 1835-1837. Also new ed., 1900-1905. See vol. VI.

The first linguistic record of the Tsonekan or Tehuelchean stock is the vocabulary taken down by Pigafetta in 1520, in connection with the Magellan expedition round the world, but not actually printed till 1800, and then rather incorrectly. In 1894, however, as part of the celebration of the quatercentenary of the discovery of America by Columbus, a good reprint, based upon the Ms. in the Ambrosian Library, was published at Rome. It was long practically the only Tsonekan data accessible. Viedma, governor of the Patagonians, collected, in 1780, at San Julian Bay (the place of origin of Pigafetta's list), a vocabulary of 285 "Patagonian words." In 1829 d'Orbigny obtained a vocabulary of 23 words from "the Patagonians or Tehuelches" on the Rio Negro; and, on comparing these with the words of Pigafetta, recognized (p. 215) the identity