Deslindes lingüísticos en las tierras bajas del Pacífico ecuatoriano. Primera parte

The knowledge of the languages spoken in the ecuadorian pacific lowlands before the spanish conquest is both partial and biased. The scarcity of data and the lack of proper linguistic methods and tools of analysis as well as the presentation of linguistic data out of their social and historical context, have prevented us from making any progress in this area since the work by Jijón y Caamaño in the 1940s. This article corresponds to the first of three parts which focus on the linguistic situation of the Ecuadorian Pacific Lowlands. It is based on a new systematization and evaluation of toponyms and anthroponyms available for this area and their comparison with first- and second-hand historic and archaeological information produced in the last decades. In addition, the article provides a critical approach to the few linguistic studies on the topic of pre-columbian languages and several methodological criteria for any study of toponymy and anthroponomy which see ks to overcome the shortcomings of previous practices in this area of research.