Iberian Imperialism and Language Evolution in Latin America ed. by Salikoko S. Mufwene (review)

As the title suggests, in Iberian Imperialism and Language Evolution in Latin America, Mufwene presents a unique collection of sociohistorical essays on language evolution in Latin America. The eleven chapters offer a thorough and insightful analysis of the consequences of language contact and colonization of indigenous languages, allowing readers to reflect on the diverse factors that have contributed to language development in colonial and postcolonial Latin America. Highlighting differences between the Portuguese and Spanish empires and within the Spanish viceroyalties, the various chapters, written by respected authors in the field, demonstrate how languages adapt to new environments through a variety of social, political, and ecological factors.

In the first chapter, Mufwene offers a historical overview, discussing how the 1494 Treaty of Todesillas had important implications in the development of Spanish and Portuguese colonies around the world. His description of the chapters that follow provides a careful analysis of how the themes in the collection are interrelated and can be used as a guide while reading the rest of the text. Lipski’s chapter discusses Spanish dialect diversification in Latin America by focusing on the changing composition of the colonial population. He suggests that the effect of new arrivals on language evolution depended on the size of the arriving population relative to the populations already present. This theme is then reiterated in many of the chapters that follow.

Most of the chapters in this collection focus on language evolution in Brazil. Couto, Moore, Lee, Clements, and Ball offer rich insights as they reflect on different time periods, regions, and peoples in this region. Couto traces the emergence of language islands as the Amerindian peoples maintained their territories among Portuguese settlers. His discussion highlights several factors that contributed to the survival of some indigenous languages over others as well as how urban settings have facilitated the survival of some language islands until today. Moore investigates the development of Lingua Geral Amazónica, the indigenous variety that became the lingua franca in Brazil after colonization. His chapter highlights how interactions between the Portuguese and Native Americans in Brazil as well as amongdifferent indigenous groups contributed to its growing importance in the region. Lee’s chapter touches on similar themes, focusing on how Lingua (Geral) Brasílica became dominant on the eastern coast of Brazil, leading to the loss of other indigenous languages before Portuguese became the dominant language in the region at the end of the seventeenth century. Mello’s chapter, in contrast, discusses how the African descendants, who were not as segregated as in other English colonies, played a pivotal role in the development of Brazilian Portuguese. Clements’s chapter further illustrates this point, showing how the African descendants introduced new features into Brazilian Portuguese that helped shape it into the language it is today. Finally, Ball’s chapter focuses on how linguistic differences in two regions of twentieth century Amazonia can be linked to historical events and cultural values. He concludes that these elements may still be evident in language behavior long after the indigenous languages cease to exist.

The other three chapters that round out the collection focus on language evolution and maintenance outside of Brazil. Pfeiler discusses how geographic isolation first contributed to the use of Maya as the primary language in the Yucatan Peninsula. Her discussion also focuses on how Maya and Spanish began to influence each other as Spanish became more prevalent in the region. This cross-linguistic influence leads her to conclude, similar to Ball in his chapter on Amazonia, that Maya will be present in how Spanish is used in the Yucatan Peninsula long after Maya ceases to exist. Durston’s chapter on standard colonial Quechua discusses the use and reinvention of Quechua as the lingua franca to facilitate language learning by Spanish priests. Finally, DeGraff relates what was covered in previous chapters on language evolution in former Portuguese and Spanish colonies to the situation in Haiti. This allows...