Classification II Austronesian Family

Austronesian n The largest language family in the world. n More than 500 languages. n The area includes Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Indonesia, Madagascar, the Philippines, and Taiwan

Subgroups in AN n Subgrouping of the Austronesian family is a matter of continuing debate. As far as the Polynesian family is concerned, the following subgrouping is generally accepted. (Only the subgrouping that directly involves Polynesian is shown.)

Subgrouping Proto-Austronesian Proto-Oceanic Indonesia Philippines Taiwan Madagascar … Proto-Eastern Oceanic New Guinea Solomon Islands Loyalty Islands New Caledonia … Micronesia Rotuma … Proto-Central Pacific Proto-FijianProto-Polynesian (Clark1979: 255)

Question 2 n Based on the subgrouping of the Austronesian family, what would be your hypothesis about the origin of Polynesian speaking people?

Oceanic n Oceanic subgroup includes almost all the Austronesian languages of the Polynesian, Melanesian, and Micronesian islands. n Except: Palauan, Chamorro, Yapese, and some at the far western end of New Guinea.

Migration n Its closest relatives are located around Cenderawasih Bay at the western New Guinea and in South Halmahera (Blust 1978). n Its next closest relatives appear to be in other parts of eastern Indonesia (Blust 1984, 1993) Indonesia Melanesia North coast of New Guinea

Oceanic: Innovation Simplification of the Proto-Austronesian sound system Proto-Austronesian *p, *b *s, *z, *c, *j *k, *g Proto-Oceanic *p *s *k

PAnPOc baqbaqpaqpaq‘mouth’ nipennipon‘tooth’ zalansalan‘path/road’ susu ‘breast’ katkat ‘bite’

Proto-Malayo- Polynesian Proto- Oceanic *hulaR*m w ata‘snake’ *dilaq*maya‘tongue’ *tuqelan*suRi‘bone’ *ma-kunij*aŋo‘yellow’ Oceanic: Lexical Innovation

Central Pacific Central Pacific covers Fijian and Polynesian. The development of the ‘focus particle’ *ko The development of the prefix *fia- (‘want to’) A change from subject initial to verb initial word order The numeral four is *faa unlike other Eastern Oceanic languages, which use *fati

Rotuman? Grace (1959) proposes that Rotuman be included in the Central Pacific. Biggs (1965) claims that much of the Rotuman-Polynesian resemblance was the result of borrowing.

Question 3 n The Central Pacific subgroup is weakly defined. What does this imply in terms of the migration pattern?

Proto Polynesian Shared Innovations Phonology Prenasalized stops become plain voiceless stops. FijianPPNMeaning m beka*pekabat n dalo*talotaro ŋ gele*keleearth

PPN Shared Innovations Grammar 1Articles PCP Common noun article na PPn Definite (*te) and indefinite (*sa)

PPN Shared Innovations Grammar 2 Possession POc Four categories of possession inalienable edible drinkable neutral PPnTwo categories dominant subordinate

PPN Shared Innovations Fijian na ulu-na (inalienable) na ke-na kumala (edible) na me-na wai (drinkable) na no-na kato (neutral) Maori t-oo-na uru (subordinate) t-aa-na kuumara (dominant) t-oo-na wai (subordinate) t-aa-na kete (dominant) Meaning his head his sweet potato his water his basket

PPN Shared Innovations Vocabulary 1 POcPPN *karu*raku‘scratch’ *tama ‘father’*tama‘child’

PPN Shared Innovations Vocabulary 2 Other items restricted to Polynesian *la’aa ‘sun’ *kata‘laugh’ *moana‘sea’ *ma’unŋa‘mountain’ *kulii‘dog’ *moa‘fowl’

Question 4 n The Polynesian subgroup is strongly defined. What does this imply in terms of the migration pattern? The Proto-Polynesian speech community underwent a long period of isolated development after its separation from Proto-Fijian.