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Language Contact and Change in Mesoamerica and Beyond
Edited by Karen Dakin, Claudia Parodi and Natalie Operstein
[Studies in Language Companion Series 185] 2017
► pp. 355–383

Chapter 17
Language diversity, contact and change in the Americas

The model of Filippo Salvatore Gilij (1721–1789)

| Leiden University
| Leiden University
| Leiden University
Filippo Salvatore Gilij (1721–1789) was a Jesuit priest and scholar who is known in linguistic circles primarily as the discoverer of several South American language families and as an astute observer of various linguistic phenomena. In his Saggio di storia americana (1780–1784), Gilij focuses on two linguistic phenomena: (1) Language change and the effect upon it of language contact. (2) The roots of both linguistic diversity and similarities as evinced by Amerindian languages. This paper explores Gilij’s observations on language and the influence exerted on his thinking by the work of earlier scholars. His model can be characterized as a hybrid of religious ideas and modern linguistic theory, with language contact as a major component in both.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Gilij and his Saggio di storia americana
    • 1.2Older sources on language diversity and change in the Americas
      • 1.2.1Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo (1487–1557)
      • 1.2.2Joseph François Lafitau (1681–1746)
      • 1.2.3Joseph Gumilla (1686–1750)
      • 1.2.4Charles Marie de La Condamine (1701–1774)
  • 2.Gilij’s evaluation of the development of the language situation in the Americas
    • 2.1Recent sources of linguistic diversity
    • 2.2Recent language contact as a source of similarities
  • 3.Gilij’s religious explanation for linguistic diversity and similarities: The story of Babylon
    • 3.1Babylon as a source of diversity
    • 3.2Babylon as a source of similarities
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 30 June 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.185.17pac
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