Cognition, stereotype, imagination and fantasy in the process of apprehending the new reality through the castellan lexicon: the testimonies of Cronistas de Indias

Abstract

The Crónicas de Indias is a miscellaneous world with information about America colonization: letters, autobiographies, natural histories, which invite us to revisit the philology, where language, literature, history, anthropology fit equally. The works developed so far reached divergent conclusions. We have proposed to unite language, literature and, also, history and anthropology. All these texts are useful to refer their content to the penetration of the indigenous lexicon into the Castilian language -and vice versa-, with identity, cultural exchanges and understanding-representation-cognition of the world. We will systematize -from its heterogeneity- the data coming from the Chronicles marking six phases in the adaptation process, according to the lexicographical theory, which will culminate with the incorporation of the indigenous word into the Spanish lexicon (semasiological, onomasiological and cognitive fields). These testimonies show the very essence of linguistic cognition. It is noted that, first, each language is adapted to represent its environment reality. When a new reality appears, previously unknown, the problems begin: language is insufficient to apprehend it. Until reaching the specific autochthonous word, there will be multiple search attempts to adapt cognition and language, which will culminate with the incorporation of the borrowed word with the cognitive load that it possesses.