Oceanic Linguistics, vol. 33, no. 1 (June 1994)
Contents
ARTICLES
Reconstructing Heterogeneity, 1-36
Frantisek Lichtenberk
The Cristobal-Malaitan languages exhibit a complex pattern of sound correspondences. This study is an attempt to provide an explanation for the pattern. Several alternative analyses are considered, among them a strictly formulist one that posits a distinct protosegment for each correspondence set, and a realist one that attributes the complexity to heterogeneity in the protolanguage that was the consequence of incomplete diffusion of a sound change. It is the realist approach that can provide an explanation for the pattern of the distribution of the reflexes in the daughter languages; the strictly formulist approach, although descriptively adequate, cannot.
Possible Non-Austronesian Lexical Elements in Philippine Negrito Languages, 37-72
Lawrence A. Reid
The languages spoken by Philippine peoples of a Negrito physical type appear to be Austronesian languages of a sort generally found in the Philippines. However, this paper presents a significant body of unique terms gleaned from their vocabularies that may constitute evidence for a non-Austronesian substratum in these languages. Alternative explanations are considered, but the one opted for hypothesizes an early pidgin or trade language, subsequently creolized, that was developed by the Negritos to facilitate communication with in-migrating Austronesians, and later decreolized to such an extent that it came to bear close resemblance to nearby Austronesian languages.
A Quantitative Analysis of the Use of the Javanese Speech Levels in a Modern Anthology, 73-103
John Myhill
This paper presents a quantitive analysis of the use of the respect language of Javanese in a selection of short stories. Variation in this stage is shown to be conditioned by factors within three domains: interactional, sentential, and lexical. Because the effects from the different domains are at least partially independent, they may sometimes conflict, in which case one or another may take precedence. The relationship among the factors is thus quantitative, not categorical. The tendencies observed are, however, strong enough to have significant effect. A program for further research along these lines is outlined.
Some Problems of Austronesian Accent and *t ~ *C (Notes of an Outsider), 105-127
I. Pejros
General consideration is given to the steps necessary for the reconstruction of accent systems. Earlier work on the accent systems of Philippine and Formosan languages is reviewed and reanalyzed using techniques developed by scholars working on accent in the Balto-Slavic branch of Indo-European. The most significant conclusion is that what had been thought to be an archaic segmental retention in Formosan--the contrast between *t and *C--can be reinterpreted as a secondary derivative based on the earlier Formosan accent system (reflected today only in Tsou). Because accent systems tend to be unstable diachronically, the earlier Formosan system cannot be assumed with confidence to have also been the system of Proto-Austronesian. With further reconstruction, it may yet prove cognate with the paradigmatic accent system of the Philippine languages.
Ergativity in Atayal, 129-143
Lillian M. Huang
Atayal, a member of the Formosan branch of the Austronesian family of languages, is spoken on Taiwan (Formosa). The question as to whether Austronesian languages are ergative has been of interest to linguists for the past several decades. While it has been fairly well settled for Philippine languages, it is still controversial for Polynesian. How it is to be answered for Formosan languages may be especially important for reconstructing Proto-Austronesian syntax, because Taiwan (Formosa) is considered by a number of linguists to be the probable homeland of the Austronesian family. This paper attempts to justify the claim that Atayal is an ergative language. It shows that non-m clauses (those whose verbs do not include a morphological m-element) are canonical transitive clauses both syntactically and semantically. This position is supported by the fact that non-m clauses have a higher frequency in texts than m-clauses. Since the patient participant in transitive clauses is manifested like the agent participant in intransitive clauses, whereas the agent participant in transitive clauses is differently marked, it is concluded that Atayal is an ergative language, and not an accusative language.
The Meaning of of Lah: Understanding "Emphasis" in Malay (Bahasa Melayu), 145-165
Cliff Goddard
The meaning of the illocutionary particle lah, a salient feature of Colloquial Malay, as well as of Malaysian and Singapore English, has proved notoriously difficult to pinpoint. For instance, with declaratives it may convey either "light-heartedness" or an "ill-tempered" effect, and it may either "soften" or "harden" a request. In this article, the Natural Semanic Metalanguage (NSM) approach of Anna Wierzbicka is applied to the analysis of lah. This involves developing a translatable reductive paraphrase explication. According to the proposed explication, which is the length of a short paragraph, lah offers an explanation of the speaker's illocutionary purpose, which is roughly to correct or preempt a misapprehension or misunderstanding of some kind. The explication is shown to be flexible enough to predict the diverse effects that lah itself may convey in combination with other elements of an utterance, once Malay cultural norms of verbal interaction are taken into account.
Some Austronesian Maverick Protoforms with Culture-Historical Implications--I, 167-229
Waruno Mahdi
(This part covers: 1. preliminary remarks; 2. 'iron'/'iron utensil'; and 3. 'gold', 'silver', and 'clove'. For part II, see OL 33, 2.)
Noting the increasing weight given to exclusively shared innovations as subgrouping criteria, this paper investigates distortions that may occur through inclusion of nonauthentic lexical innovations (called "mavericks" and indicated by a superscript 'x') and correlates examples of such nonauthentic innovations with datable archaeological and historiographic data.
Protoforms for 'iron' are found to be nonauthentic, their distribution suggesting the Sulu-Sangir area as an important dispersal center, and agreeing with historiographic and linguistic evidence for considerable Philippine and Malay borrowing into Formosan languages. xBunga-lawang 'clove' and xsalaka 'silver' are connected with the Malay spice trade since 200 B.C.; xpirak 'silver' and x(e)mas 'gold' with Funan overlordship in the third and fourth centuries A.D., whereby an identification of the location of protohistoric Yavadvipa is made. Linguistic evidence on sorghum and millet suggests dispersal in the Philippines-Indonesia area between 1500 and 700 B.C., being contemporaneous with the transmission of xbuLauan 'gold'. Data for rice are found to agree with Bellwood, although they suggest that it was a highland rather than lowland crop in the Philippine-Indonesia area.
The dispersal of xparij and xparigi? 'ditch around stone fortification' suggests dispersal of the late megalithic from Sulu-Sangir to West Indonesia, implying an Indonesian origin for the megalithic of South and Northeast India. Linguistic evidence is proposed for a Southeast China origin for the Austronesian double canoe, for Austronesian participation in development of the 'ship of the dead' cult in Indochina, and for an Austronesian introduction of high-seas shipping to India. A "substratum trail" tracing the migration route to Oceania is investigated. Forms for 'person' throw light upon the relationship between mongoloid and australoid Austronesians, suggesting that Proto-Austronesian was spoken by australoids.
Nonreplacement innovations are found to be unreliable as subgrouping criteria, and it is concluded that the methods of "exclusively shared innovations" and "treatment of a dialect chain" should be mutually exclusive approaches to subgrouping problems. Because all subgrouping methods are susceptible to distortion, the author advocates inclusion of all available methods, in spite of the disparities to be expected.
REVIEW ARTICLE
Alain Lemaréchal. 1991. Problèmes de sémantique et de syntaxe en Palau, 231-256
Reviewed by Lewis S. Josephs
REVIEWS
Terry Crowley. 1992. A dictionary of Paamese, 257-262
Reviewed by Joel Bradshaw
Edgar Tu`inukuafe. 1992. A simplified dictionary of modern Tongan, 262-269
Reviewed by Albert J. Shütz