Approach to extinct Amerindian languages through archival documentation

Abstract

The writing that takes place in these pages aims to analyze some words from the extinct languages ​​Pericú, Cochimí and Waikura, such as aynu, boxo, riyero or medesá, which were documented in Spanish texts dating from the 17th century and authorship of the Admiral of the Californias don Isidro de Atondo and Antillón. The texts taken to carry out this writing were found in three compilations entitled Descubrimiento en Las Californias, Autos sobre la última entrada en Las Californias and Cartas del virrey marqués de la Laguna that are preserved in the General Archive of the Indies. The study of these words is complemented by the analysis of other words, no less important, with which the nations observed in his texts are designated, all of them native Baja Californians and from whose languages ​​the outstanding examples come. In this way, the scarce documentation that exists of these languages ​​and words is revealed, both in the testimonies of navigators or missionaries and in academic studies; and with this, another objective of this analysis is fulfilled, consisting of transcribing the fragments that include these voices to make known the admiral's journeys, the culture of these nations, the lost toponymy in indigenous languages ​​and the awareness of the conquerors of giving a name to something that already has it.