Oceanic Linguistics, vol. 32, no. 2 (Winter 1993)

Contents

ARTICLES

The Evolution of Ponapeic Nasal Substitution, 199-238
Juliette Blevins and Andrew Garrett

Both the synchronic phonology of Ponapean and the diachronic phonology of the Ponapeic subgroup of Micronesian show a process of "Nasal Substitution," whereby a voiceless geminate obstruent is realized as a homorganic sequence of nasal + voiceless stop: T_iT_i > N_iT_i. Such a process is easily described and formalized phonologically, but it appears to have no phonetic basis. Coupled with the cross-linguistic rarity of parallel processes, this suggests that Nasal Substitution is not in fact a possible sound change and never occurred as such in the history of Ponapeic. An alternative analysis is presented in which voiceless geminate obstruents became preaspirated in Proto-Ponapeic, with a subsequent reanalysis of aspiration as nasalization in Ponapean and Mokilese: T_iT_i > hT_i > N_iT_i. Under this analysis two phonetically plausible and not uncommon sound changes are proposed: geminate aspiration and aspirate nasalization (via "rhinoglottophilia"). Obstruent-nasal alternations at morpheme boundaries resulting from such sound changes ultimately gave rise to a synchronic phonological rule of Nasal Substitution on Mokilese and Ponapean that has been lost in Mokilese and partially lexicalized in Ponapean.

PAPERS ON LANGUAGES OF MALUKU
James T. Collins, Guest Editor

Introduction, 239-240
James T. Collins

Central and Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, 241-293
Robert Blust

Evidence is presented for two large subgroups of Austronesian languages, Central Malayo-Polynesian (CMP) and Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian (CEMP). CEMP, encompassing all of the approximately 600 Austronesian languages of Eastern Indonesia and the Pacific apart from Palauan, Chamorro, and possible Yapese, is Justifies by a set of phonological, lexical, morphosyntactic, and semantic innovations that distinguish these languages from the reconstructed ancestor of the Austronesian family as a whole (Proto-Austronesian), and from the putative immediate ancestor of all non-Formosan Austronesian languages (Proto-Malayo-Polynesian). CMP, encompassing over 100 languages in the Lesser Sunda and Moluccan islands of eastern Indonesia, is justified by a set of phonological, lexical, and morphosyntactic innovations that often fail to include all members of the proposed group. These overlapping distributions of innovated features in CMP languages are interpreted as evidence for a rapid spread of Austronesian speakers through eastern Indonesia from a primary dispersal point in Northern Moluccas soon after separation of the ancestral CMP and EMP language communities. Within CMP, it is found that several languages of the Bomberai Peninsula on the Southwest coast of New Guinea, including at least Seka, Onin, and Uruangnirin, subgroup closely with Yamdena of the Tanimbar archipelago some 300 miles distant ion the southern Moluccas. It is concluded that the Bomberai languages reached their historical locations through a back-migration from the southern Moluccas well after the initial Austronesian settlement of eastern Indonesia.

The Reinterpretation of Knowledge and its Role in the Process of Language Obsolescence, 295-309
Margaret J. Florey

This paper seeks to examine a central aspect of the process of language obsolescence that is taking place in the village of Lohiatala, located in western Seram, eastern Indonesia. In this village, a small group of younger fluent speakers of the Alune language are reinterpreting the status of folktales from the secular to the sacred category of knowledge. Although in other settings the threatened language has been shown to persist in the domain of religion, among the Alune a restriction exists that prevents the open transmission of sacred knowledge. The process of reinterpretation therefore appears to be hastening the demise of Alune because the access of imperfect speakers and passive bilinguals to folktales has been blocked.

Insights from Larike Possessive Constructions, 311-351
Wyn D. Laidig

Larike, a virtually undescribed descendant of Proto-Central Malayo-Polynesian, displays its own unique patterns of possession, a topic of continuing interest among these studying Austronesian languages. This paper provides what is primarily a synchronic description of possession in Larike, and attempts to draw insights pertinent to the study of possession in related languages. Example sentences, drawn extensively from text materials, are provided to help make up for the lack of prior linguistic description. It is shown that Larike makes use of four mechanisms to indicate possessive relationships: possessive prefixes, possessive suffixes, possessive roots, and possessive compounds. As part of this discussion, Larike's system of nominal classifiers are members of a class of Larike nouns that explicitly marks the noun as being possessed, and also marks the number of that possessed noun. In contrast with many Central Malayo-Polynesian languages, Larike does not exhibit a definite distinction between inalienably and alienably possessed noun classes, although remnants of this system are quite apparent in nominal classifiers as well as in other nouns, especially those in part-whole relationships. In general, the suffixes used to indicate the possessive relationship are not obligatory unless the words are spoken n the absence of the possessor noun. An examination off the linguistic context in which these possessive suffixes are dropped or substituted by other suffixes is crucial to a proper understanding of Larike possessives. For the purposes of comparison, this study also provides a brief summary of the possessive systems used in a number of other Central Malayo-Polynesian languages.

Reduplication in Four Dialects of West Tarangan, 353-388
Richard Nivens

One significant difference between the dialects of West Tarangan is the phenomenon of reduplication. Both the phonological forms and the syntactic functions of reduplication vary from the dialect to dialect. In each dialect, the reduplicative prefix occurs to the left of the stressed syllable. If stress is not on the initial syllable of the root, this results in (pseudo-)infixation. In two dialects, the form of the prefix is CVC, but is reduced to a single consonant with some bases. One of these two dialects prespecifies the vowel of the CVC prefix. In another dialect, the prefix is CVC except for bases of the form CVC(C), which take either CVCV or a CV prefix, depending on which consonants occur in the base. As for syntactic functions, all dialects use reduplication to mark a modifier within a noun phrase and for various derivations, such as the instrument used to perform an action or the actor who performs an action. Two dialects also use reduplication to mark the negated portion of a negative clause, to mark a clause as subordinate, and to indicate progressive aspect.

Toward a Better Understanding of the Indigenous Languages of Southwestern Maluku, 389-442
Mark Taber

Relatively little is known about the indigenous languages in southwestern Maluku, Indonesia, The reasons are many, not the least of which is the logistical remoteness of these nineteen islands. This paper seeks to update our understanding of the situation by presenting the results of a recent linguistic survey conducted by Pattimura University and the summer Institute of Linguistics. Data were collected from 41 villages using a 210-item wordlist as the primary instrument. The data were subsequently analyzed with the aid of the computer program WORDSURV. The results have helped to answer our questions regarding (1) the number of languages currently spoken in southwestern Maluku, (2) their boundaries, (3) their relationship to each other, and (4) their relationship to languages in the Kei, Aru, and Tanimbar archipelagos of southwestern Maluku. Previous linguistic studies and classifications, together with sociolinguistic and demographic information collected during the study were examined in order to add to our understanding of the area.