The figure of Native American language researchers between the 17th and 20th centuries: inside and outside the language sciences.

Abstract

Since the arrival of the conquistadors to the continent, the indigenous American languages were considered as an object of study by different disciplines and were thought from different ideological currents. The scholars who carried out such research belonged to the most diverse sciences and schools of thought, and their roles in their respective fields and their impact on society evolved over the years. Moreover, the place occupied by the languages studied within those fields also changed due to ideological-political reasons.
In this presentation, we will analyze who is the researcher of American Indian languages and reflect on the process of professionalization that he or she went through between the 17th century and the first half of the 20th century. In addition, we will evaluate the consequences of this process on the study of these languages and their configuration as a valid object of study. Thus, we will make a historical journey through various sources, focusing on the figures of the authors, inside and outside the prestigious academies: among them we will include González Holguín (1607), de Valdivia (1606), de Solano (1991), Fidel López (1871), Markham (1883), Lehman-Nitsche (1913), Imbelloni (1926), Palavecino (1926), Costa Álvarez (1928), Harrington (1933) and Escalada (1949).