Early Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands

Wetland research in northern Belize provides the earliest evidence for development of agriculture in the Maya Lowlands. Pollen data confirm the introduction of maize and manioc before 3000 B.C. Dramatic deforestation, beginning ca. 2500 B.C. and intensifying in wetland environments ca. 1500-1300 B.C., marks an expansion of agriculture, which occurred in the context of a mixed foraging economy. By 1000 B.C. a rise in groundwater levels led farmers to construct drainage ditches coeval with the emergence of Maya complex society ca. 1000-400 B.C. Field manipulations often involved minor modifications of natural hummocks. Canal systems are not as extensive in northern Belize as previously reported, nor is there evidence of artificially raised planting platforms. By the Classic period, wetland fields were flooded and mostly abandoned

Exploring contested authenticity among speakers of a contested language: the case of ‘Francoprovençal'

This paper explores the notion of speaker authenticity in the context of obsolescent ‘Francoprovençal’: a highly fragmented grouping of Romance varieties spoken in parts of France, Italy, and Switzerland by less than 1% of the total regional population. While Francoprovençal has long been losing ground to the dominant language(s) with which it is in contact, new speakers have begun to emerge within the context of revitalisation movements and activities geared more favourable language planning policies and increased literacy. The emergence of these new speakers has polarised native-speaker communities, and has blurred the lines associated with the traditional view of sociolinguistic authenticity. Through an analysis of qualitative data collected in 2012, this article argues in particular that it may not be sufficient to simply examine contested authenticities from a native–non-native perspective, but rather it is important to consider how new speakers might themselves form a complex spectrum of speaker types with new sets of tensions as has been argued elsewhere

El protomixteco y sus descendientes

This paper presents a new reconstruction of proto-Mixtec, based on lexical material from 20 towns representing different varieties of Mixtec. We propose a phonological system for proto-Mixtec and a series of 16 ordered rules which represents the historical development of the modern varieties. The rules are grouped into 4 stages, each of which consists, in general, of various related phonological processes. The analysis reveals a process of linguistic change which makes subclassifications of the varieties difficult. due to the effects of overlapping spheres of innovation. Axes of influence vary from one linguistic change to another; the Mixtec centers change their alliances, continue in contact, or renew contact after periods of separation. Thus the results of innovations in certain important centers are found diffused to other allied centers. This paper attempts to define these spheres of influence in linguistic terms and to identify the innovating centers. A series of maps recapitulates the development of the dialect areas. Appendix I presents 45 reconstructed forms for proto-Mixtec with, the cognate sets which support them. Appendix II shows the distributional isoglosses which corresponded to the sequence of phonological changes proposed