Interview with Dr. Ivan Roksandic

Dr. Roksandic, you are studying place names in the Western Caribbean. What makes these names interesting?

When you look at a map of the Caribbean you immediately recognise names that are not of Spanish or European origin. In the Western Caribbean, a significant portion of place names are of indigenous origin, despite the fact that none of these pre-Columbian languages are still spoken there today. The place names have survived throughout history, while the indigenous languages themselves have been lost.

Indigenous place names can tell us a lot about the people who lived in a specific place. Interestingly, it is possible to connect toponyms with known language groups and the people who belonged to these groups. This way, we can identify who lived on the islands.

You mentioned that most of these indigenous languages have been lost. How do you analyse a language that you do not know?

A Caribbean name that is not of European origin is very easy to recognise: 16th century Spanish is not much different from contemporary Spanish. French, Portuguese, English and Dutch are easy to recognise as well: if it is not any of those languages, the name is likely of pre-Columbian origin.

Distinguishing between pre-Columbian languages is much more difficult, and is in fact the main focus of my project. Nearly all indigenous languages spoken on the islands are dead. To identify languages, we look at similar, sister-languages that are still spoken on the continent. We can recognise the language based on other sources, by comparing it to known languages or even language groups, for example Guajiro, Garifuna or a group of Arawak languages.

The names of Jamaica and Haiti, for example, come directly from the indigenous Taino words, with slightly changed pronunciations.

With the NEXUS project we are particularly interested in the transformations of Amerindian societies across 1492. How can toponomastic studies shed light on the interactions between the indigenous Amerindian, European and African inhabitants of the region?

Our Caribbean research focuses on the pre-Columbian period, rather than the post-Columbian period. This means that our focus is somewhat different from NEXUS. However, despite this differences, there is a lot of overlap in research topics. We are trying to see how we can collaborate and combine efforts in a way that both sides can profit from it.

Specifically, toponomastic study of the region can make a significant contribution to our understanding of population groups on the islands in the pre-contact period, which NEXUS is exploring from a different angle. In addition, it can shed light on our knowledge of the routes of early migratory movements in the Western Caribbean.

The region is huge and has been relatively understudied. For example, we are still confused about the chronology of cultures in the Caribbean, we just don’t know enough yet. This shows that there is so much space for discovery: it is important that we find a good way to collaborate because there are so many possibilities for our groups to share and link knowledge.