4. Several questions arise out of this study. Is the proposed affinity between Mayan and Chipaya an isolated case? Or will other South American languages prove to be genetically related to Mesoamerican families? Swadesh,20 who believes that all indigenous languages of the Americas are ultimately related, has proposed several comprehensive schemes of relationship on a hemispheric scale. This paper now demonstrates that one South American language group, namely Uru-Chipaya, is specifically and demonstrably related to a recognized family of Mesoamerica. A pressing problem is that of the precise relationship of Uru-Chipaya to Mayan. Assuming the validity of the long proposed Mayan-Zoquean-Totonacan grouping (and ignoring possible further extensions of this grouping),21 what is the relationship of Uru-Chipaya to these families? At least four solutions are possible. These solutions imply varying estimates of the relative recency of migration to South America. In order of