Proto-Austronesian (commonly abbreviated as PAN or PAn) is a
proto-language
In the tree model of historical linguistics, a proto-language is a postulated ancestral language from which a number of attested languages are believed to have descended by evolution, forming a language family. Proto-languages are usually unatte ...
. It is the
reconstructed ancestor of the
Austronesian languages, one of the world's major
language families. Proto-Austronesian is assumed to have begun to diversify 3,500–4,000 BCE on
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...
.
Lower-level reconstructions have also been made, and include
Proto-Malayo-Polynesian
Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP) is the reconstructed ancestor of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, which is by far the largest branch (by current speakers) of the Austronesian language family. Proto-Malayo-Polynesian is ancestral to all Austronesi ...
,
Proto-Oceanic
Proto-Oceanic (abbr. ''POc'') is a proto-language that historical linguists since Otto Dempwolff have reconstructed as the hypothetical common ancestor of the Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian language family. Proto-Oceanic is a descendant ...
, and
Proto-Polynesian. Recently, linguists such as
Malcolm Ross and
Andrew Pawley have built large lexicons for Proto-Oceanic and Proto-Polynesian.
Phonology
Proto-Austronesian is reconstructed by constructing sets of correspondences among consonants in the various Austronesian languages, according to the
comparative method. Although in theory the result should be unambiguous, in practice given the large number of languages there are numerous disagreements, with various scholars differing significantly on the number and nature of the phonemes in Proto-Austronesian. In the past, some disagreements concerned whether certain correspondence sets were real or represent sporadic developments in particular languages. For the currently remaining disagreements, however, scholars generally accept the validity of the correspondence sets but disagree on the extent to which the distinctions in these sets can be projected back to proto-Austronesian or represent innovations in particular sets of daughter languages.
Blust's reconstruction
Below are Proto-Austronesian
phoneme
In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language.
For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-wes ...
s reconstructed by
Robert Blust, a professor of linguistics at the
University of Hawaii at Manoa.
A total of 25 Proto-Austronesian consonants, 4 vowels, and 4
diphthong
A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...
s were reconstructed. However, Blust acknowledges that some of the reconstructed consonants are still controversial and debated.
The symbols below are frequently used in reconstructed Proto-Austronesian words.
* *C:
voiceless alveolar affricate
A voiceless alveolar affricate is a type of affricate consonant pronounced with the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge (gum line) just behind the teeth. This refers to a class of sounds, not a single sound. There are several t ...
* *c:
voiceless palatal affricate
* *q:
uvular
* *z:
voiced palatal affricate
* *D:
voiced retroflex stop
* *j:
palatalized voiced velar stop
* *S:
voiceless alveolar fricative
* *N:
palatalized alveolar lateral
* *r:
alveolar flap
* *R:
alveolar or
uvular trill
*D only appears in final position, *z/*c/*ñ only in initial and medial position, while *j is restricted to medial and final position.
The Proto-Austronesian
vowel
A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (l ...
s are a, i, u, and ə.
The
diphthong
A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...
s, which are diachronic sources of individual vowels, are:
* *-ay
* *-aw
* *-uy
* *-iw
Wolff's reconstruction
In 2010, John Wolff published his Proto-Austronesian reconstruction in ''Proto-Austronesian phonology with glossary''. Wolff reconstructs a total of 19 consonants, 4 vowels (*i, *u, *a, *e, where *e = ), 4 diphthongs (*ay, *aw, *iw, *uy), and syllabic stress.
The following table shows how Wolff's Proto-Austronesian phonemic system differs from Blust's system.
Historical overview of reconstructions for Proto-Austronesian
According to Malcolm Ross,
the following aspects of Blust's system are uncontroversial: the labials (p b m w); the velars k ŋ; y; R; the vowels; and the above four diphthongs. There is some disagreement about the postvelars (q ʔ h) and the velars g j, and about whether there are any more diphthongs; however, in these respects, Ross and Blust are in agreement. The major disagreement concerns the system of
coronal consonant
Coronals are consonants articulated with the flexible front part of the tongue. Among places of articulation, only the coronal consonants can be divided into as many articulation types: apical (using the tip of the tongue), laminal (using the b ...
s. The following discussion is based on Ross (1992).
Otto Dempwolff's reconstruction of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian from the 1930s included:
*Dental t d n l
*Retroflex ṭ ḍ ḷ
*Palatal t' d' n'
*Palatal k' g'
Dyen (1963), including data from the Formosan languages, expanded Dempwolff's set of coronal consonants:
*t split into t and C
*n split into n and L/N
*d' split and renotated as z and Z
*t' split into s
1 and s
2
*ḷ ṭ ḍ n' k' g' h renotated as r T D ñ c j q
Tsuchida (1976), building on Dyen's system:
*Further split d into D
1 D
2 D
3 D
4. He also believed that Dyen's c (Dempwolff's k') could not be reconstructed for Proto-Austronesian (he also split Dyen's w into w W and q into q Q, which were not accepted by later scholars.)
Dahl
Dahl may refer to:
* Dal (or dahl, or dhal), a dish or preparation of lentils or other pulses
Places Germany
* Hagen-Dahl, Hagen, Ruhrgebiet
*Kürten-Dahl, Kürten, Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis
*Marienheide-Dahl, Marienheide, Oberbergischer Kreis ...
reduced Tsuchida's consonants into:
*D
1 D
2 D
3 D
4 into d
3 d
2 d
1 d
3 (with the new d
3 reflecting the combination of the old D
1 and D
4) and combined Dyen's S X x into a single phoneme S. He did accept Dyen's c but did not accept his T D. (He also renotated a number of phonemes in ways that were not generally accepted by later scholars.)
Blust based his system on a combination of Dyen, Tsuchida and Dahl, and attempted to reduce the total number of phonemes. He accepted Dahl's reduction of Dyen's S X x into S but did not accept either Tsuchida's or Dahl's split of Dyen's d; in addition, he reduced Dyen's s
1 s
2 to a single phoneme s. While accepting Dyen's c, he was hesitant about T and D (more recently, Blust appears to have accepted D but rejected T, and also rejected Z).
Ross likewise attempted to reduce the number of phonemes, but in a different way:
*He accepts Dahl's d
1 d
2 d
3 and also Z (eventually rejected by Blust). He notes that the distinction between d
1 and d
2 d
3 is only reconstructable for the Formosan language groups
Amis Amis may refer to:
* Amis (surname)
* Amis people (or ''Amis''), a tribe of Taiwanese aborigines
* Amis language, an indigenous language of Taiwan
* AMIS (ISP), an Internet service provider (ISP) in Slovenia and Croatia
* Amis et Amiles, an old ...
, Proto-Puyuma and Proto-Paiwan, and only Proto-Paiwan has a three-way distinction among d
1 d
2 d
3; contrarily the distinction between Z and d
1 is reconstructable only for Proto-Rukai and Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, but not any of the previous three groups. However, he still believes (contra Blust) that the distinction among these phonemes is an inheritance from Proto-Austronesian rather than an innovation in the respective groups.
*He notes that d
1 occurs only morpheme-initially, while r occurs only morpheme-non-initially, and as a result combines the two.
*He does not accept the phonemes c z ñ in Proto-Austronesian, and asserts that none of them are "readily reconstructable" outside of
Proto-Malayo-Polynesian
Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP) is the reconstructed ancestor of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, which is by far the largest branch (by current speakers) of the Austronesian language family. Proto-Malayo-Polynesian is ancestral to all Austronesi ...
. Furthermore, while he believes that ñ was a general innovation in Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, c and z "are reflected differently from PMP
roto-Malayo-Polynesian*s and *d only in a fairly limited area of western Indo-Malaysia and appear to be the results of local developments".
*He also reconstructs the coronals somewhat differently. He believes that C S l d
3 were all retroflex (respectively, ), and s and L (Blust's N) were dental /s/ and /l/, as opposed to Blust's reconstruction as dental and palatal, respectively. According to Ross, this is based on their outcomes in the
Formosan languages
The Formosan languages are a geographic grouping comprising the languages of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, all of which are Austronesian. They do not form a single subfamily of Austronesian but rather nine separate subfamilies. The Taiwan ...
and
Javanese; although their outcomes as dental/palatal is geographically more distributed, it occurs only in
Malayo-Polynesian, which represent a single clade with respect to the Formosan languages.
Sound changes
As Proto-Austronesian transitioned to Proto-Malayo-Polynesian,
Proto-Oceanic
Proto-Oceanic (abbr. ''POc'') is a proto-language that historical linguists since Otto Dempwolff have reconstructed as the hypothetical common ancestor of the Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian language family. Proto-Oceanic is a descendant ...
, and
Proto-Polynesian, the phonemic inventories were continually reduced by merging formerly distinct sounds into one sound. Three mergers were observed in the Proto-Austronesian to Proto-Malayo-Polynesian transition, while nine were observed for the Proto-Oceanic to Proto-Polynesian transition. Thus, Proto-Austronesian has the most elaborate sound system, while Proto-Polynesian has the fewest phonemes. For instance, the
Hawaiian language
Hawaiian (', ) is a Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language ...
is famous for having only eight consonants, while
Māori has only ten consonants. This is a sharp reduction from the 19–25 consonants of the Proto-Austronesian language that was originally spoken on Taiwan or
Kinmen.
Blust also observed the following mergers and sound changes between Proto-Austronesian and Proto-Malayo-Polynesian.
However, according to Wolff (2010:241), Proto-Malayo-Polynesian's development from Proto-Austronesian only included the following three sound changes.
* PAn *ɬ > PMP *ñ, l, n
* PAn *s > PMP *h
* PAn *h > PMP *Ø
Proto-Oceanic merged even more phonemes. This is why modern-day
Polynesian languages have some of the most restricted consonant inventories in the world.
Unusual sound changes that occurred within the Austronesian language family include:
* Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *w ''or'' *b >
Sundanese c- or -nc-
* Proto-Oceanic *w ''or'' *y > p in
Levei Khehek
* Proto-Oceanic *r ''or'' *R > g͡ʟ in
Hiw
* Proto-Polynesian *l ''or'' *r > ŋg (via *ɣ or *ʁ) in
Rennellese
* Proto-Polynesian *t > k in Hawaiian,
Samoan, and
Ontong Java (after *k > ʔ)
Syntax
Word order
Proto-Austronesian is a verb-initial language (including
VSO and
VOS word orders), as most
Formosan languages
The Formosan languages are a geographic grouping comprising the languages of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, all of which are Austronesian. They do not form a single subfamily of Austronesian but rather nine separate subfamilies. The Taiwan ...
, all
Philippine languages, some
Bornean languages, all Austronesian dialects of
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
, and all
Polynesian languages are verb-initial.
However, most Austronesian (many of which are
Oceanic) languages of
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
,
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...
,
New Caledonia,
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...
, the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its ca ...
, and
Micronesia
Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...
are
SVO, or verb-medial, languages.
SOV, or verb-final, word order is considered to be typologically unusual for Austronesian languages, and is only found in various Austronesian languages of
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...
and to a more limited extent, the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its ca ...
. This is because SOV word order is very common in the non-Austronesian
Papuan languages.
Voice system
The Austronesian languages of
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...
,
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java Isl ...
,
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
and the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
are also well known for their unusual
morphosyntactic alignment, which is known as the
symmetrical voice
Symmetrical voice, also known as Austronesian alignment, the Philippine-type voice system or the Austronesian focus system, is a typologically unusual kind of morphosyntactic alignment in which "one argument can be marked as having a special relat ...
(also known as the Austronesian alignment). This alignment was also present in the Proto-Austronesian language. Unlike Proto-Austronesian, however, Proto-Oceanic syntax does not make use of the focus morphology present in Austronesian-aligned languages such as the
Philippine languages. In the
Polynesian languages, verbal morphology is relatively simple, while the main unit in a sentence is the phrase rather than the word.
Below is a table of John Wolff's Proto-Austronesian voice system from Blust (2009:433). Wolff's "four-voice" system was derived from evidence in various Formosan and Philippine languages.
However, Ross (2009)
[Ross, Malcolm. 2009. "Proto Austronesian verbal morphology: A reappraisal." In Alexander Adelaar and Andrew Pawley (eds.). ''Austronesian historical linguistics and culture history: a festschrift for Robert Blust''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.] notes that what may be the most divergent languages,
Tsou,
Rukai, and
Puyuma, are not addressed by this reconstruction, which therefore cannot claim to be alignment system of the protolanguage of the entire family. He calls the unit to which this reconstruction applies Nuclear Austronesian.
Interrogatives and case markers
The following table compares Proto-Austronesian and Proto-Malayo-Polynesian question words.
Currently, the most complete reconstruction of the Proto-Austronesian
case marker
In linguistics, a marker is a free or bound morpheme that indicates the grammatical function of the marked word, phrase, or sentence. Most characteristically, markers occur as clitics or inflectional affixes. In analytic languages and aggluti ...
system is offered by
Malcolm Ross.
The reconstructed case markers are as follows:
Important Proto-Austronesian grammatical words include the ligature *na and locative *i.
Morphology
Morphology and
syntax are often hard to separate in the Austronesian languages, particularly the
Philippine languages.
This is because the morphology of the verbs often affects how the rest of the sentence would be constructed (i.e., syntax).
Affixes
Below are some Proto-Austronesian
affix
In linguistics, an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. Affixes may be derivational, like English ''-ness'' and ''pre-'', or inflectional, like English plural ''-s'' and past tense ''-ed''. They ...
es (including
prefix
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy''. Particu ...
es,
infixes, and
suffixes) reconstructed by
Robert Blust. For instance, *pa- was used for non-stative (i.e., dynamic) causatives, while *pa-ka was used for stative causatives (Blust 2009:282). Blust also noted a p/m pairing phenomenon in which many affixes have both ''p-'' and ''m-'' forms. This system is especially elaborate in the
Thao language of Taiwan.
Reduplication
CV (consonant + vowel)
reduplication is very common among the Austronesian languages. In Proto-Austronesian, Ca-reduplicated (consonant + /a/) numbers were used to count humans, while the non-reduplicated sets were used to count non-human and inanimate objects. CV-reduplication was also used to nominalize verbs in Proto-Austronesian. In Ilocano, CV-reduplication is used to pluralize nouns.
Reduplication patterns include (Blust 2009):
*Full reduplication
*Full reduplication plus affixation
*Full reduplication minus the coda
*Full reduplication minus the last vowel
*Full reduplication with vocalic or consonantal change, or both
*Full reduplication with consecutive identical syllables
*Prefixal foot reduplication/leftward reduplication
*Suffixal foot reduplication/rightward reduplication
*CVC-reduplication
*CV-reduplication (marks durative aspect, collectivity, or intensity in Bunun; future in Tagalog)
*CV-reduplication plus affixation
*Ca-reduplication (used to derive human-counting numerals and deverbal instrumental nouns in Thao and Puyuma)
*Extensions of fixed segmentism
*Reduplicative infixes
*Suffixal syllable reduplication
Other less common patterns are (Blust 2009):
*Vacuous reduplication (occurs in Paamese)
*Full reduplication minus the initial (occurs in Anejom of southern Vanuatu)
*Full reduplication plus an initial glide (occurs in Kosraean)
*Partial reduplication minus initial glottal stop (occurs in Rennellese)
*True CV-reduplication (occurs in Pangasinan)
*Rightward trisyllabic reduplication (occurs in the
Manam language)
*Double reduplication (occurs in Woleaian)
*Triplication (only in the
Thao language)
*Serial reduplication (only in the
Thao language)
Vocabulary
Pronouns
The Proto-Austronesian and Proto-Malayo-Polynesian
personal pronouns below were reconstructed by
Robert Blust.
In 2006,
Malcolm Ross also proposed seven different pronominal categories for persons. The categories are listed below, with the Proto-Austronesian first person singular ("I") given as examples.
#Neutral (e.g., PAN *i-aku)
#Nominative 1 (e.g., PAN *aku)
#Nominative 2 (e.g., PAN *=ku, *
ku)
#Accusative (e.g., PAN *i-ak-ən)
#Genitive 1 (e.g., PAN *=
u)
#Genitive 2 (e.g., PAN *(=)m-aku)
#Genitive 3 (e.g., PAN *n-aku)
The following is from Ross' 2002 proposal of the Proto-Austronesian pronominal system, which contains five categories, including the free (i.e., independent or unattached), free polite, and three genitive categories.
Nouns
Proto-Austronesian vocabulary relating to agriculture and other technological innovations include:
* *pajay: rice plant
* *beRas: husked rice
* *Semay: cooked rice
* *qayam: bird (means "domesticated animal" in PMP)
* *manuk: chicken (PMP *manu-manuk means "bird")
* *babuy: pig
* *qaNuaŋ:
carabao
* *kuden: clay cooking pot
* *SadiRi: housepost
* *busuR: bow
* *panaq: flight of an arrow
* *bubu: fish trap
* *tulaNi: bamboo
nose flute
Proto-Malayo-Polynesian innovations include:
* *puqun: base of a tree; origin, cause
* *sumpit: blowpipe
* *haRezan: notched log ladder (used to enter pile dwellings)
* *taytay: bamboo suspension bridge (POc *tete "ladder, bridge")
* *kaka: elder same sex sibling
* *huaji: younger same sex sibling
* *ñaRa: brother of a woman
* *betaw: sister of a man
Proto-Malayo-Polynesian also has several words for house:
* *balay (house, building for public use)
* *Rumaq (house, family dwelling)
* *banua (land, village, house, country, sky, heaven) – hence ''
vanua'' and (as in )
* *lepaw (granary)
* *kamaliR (bachelors' clubhouse)
Animals
Plants
Colors and directions
Below are colors in reconstructed Proto-Austronesian, Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, Proto-Oceanic, and Proto-Polynesian.
The first three have been reconstructed by
Robert Blust, while the Proto-Polynesian words given below were reconstructed by
Andrew Pawley. Proto-Polynesian displays many innovations not found in the other proto-languages.
The Proto-Austronesians used two types of directions, which are the land-sea axis and the monsoon axis. The cardinal directions of north, south, east, and west developed among the Austronesian languages only after contact with the Europeans. For the land-sea axis, upstream/uphill and inland, as well as downstream/downhill and seaward, are synonym pairs. This has been proposed as evidence that Proto-Austronesians used to live on a mainland, since the sea would be visible from all angles on small islands.
* *daya: inland (also upstream/uphill)
* *lahud: seaward (also downstream/downhill)
* *SabaRat: west monsoon
* *timuR: east monsoon
* *qamiS: north wind
In Kavalan, Amis, and Tagalog, the reflexes of *timuR mean "south" or "south wind," while in the languages of the southern Philippines and Indonesia it means "east" or "east wind."
In
Ilocano, and respectively mean "east" and "west," while in
Puyuma, and respectively mean "west" and "east." This is because the Ilocano homeland is the west coast of northern Luzon, while the Puyuma homeland is on the eastern coast of southern Taiwan. Among the Bontok, Kankanaey, and Ifugaw languages of northern Luzon, the reflexes of *daya mean "sky" because they already live in some of the highest elevations in the Philippines (Blust 2009:301).
Also, the
Malay reflex of *lahud is , which means "sea", used as directions (means "northeast", ''timur'' = "east") and (means "northwest", ''barat'' = "west"). Meanwhile, *daya only performs in , which means "southwest".
Numerals
Below are reconstructed Proto-Austronesian, Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, Proto-Oceanic, and Proto-Polynesian numbers from the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database.
Note that *lima 'five', ultimately the root for 'hand', is not found for 'five' in some Formosan languages, such as Pazeh, Saisiat, Luilang, Favorlang and Taokas; numerals cognate with Proto-Malayo-Polynesian 6–10 are found in Amis, Basay, Bunun, Kanakanabu, Kavalan, Paiwan, Puyuma, Saaroa and Tsou. Pazeh, Favorlang, Saisiat and Taokas reflect *RaCep 'five'.
Laurent Sagart suggests that this was the PAn root, replaced by *lima in a lineage that lead to the remaining languages, rather than the reverse, because it seems to be retained in proto-Malayo-Polynesian in the forms 7, 8, 9, which appear to be disyllabic contractions of additive phrases attested from some of the western Formosan languages, especially Pazeh: Pazeh ''xaseb-uza'' 'six' (literally 'five-one'); ''xaseb-i-dusa'' 'seven' ('five-and-two'), with the ''bidu'' cognate with PMP *pitu; ''xaseb-a-turu'' 'eight' ('five-and-three'), with the ''baturu'' cognate with PMP *walu; ''xaseb-i-supat'' 'nine' ('five-and-four'), with the ''supa'' (< PAn *Sepat 'four') cognate with PMP *Siwa.
The Proto-Austronesian language had different sets of numerals for non-humans ("set A") and humans ("set B") (Blust 2009:279). Cardinal numerals for counting humans are derived from the non-human numerals through Ca-reduplication. This bipartite numeral system is found in Thao, Puyuma, Yami, Chamorro, and various other languages (however, Paiwan uses and to derive human numerals). In many Philippine languages such as Tagalog, the two numeral systems are merged (Blust 2009:280-281).
Proto-Austronesian also used *Sika- to derive
ordinal numerals
In linguistics, ordinal numerals or ordinal number words are words representing position or rank in a sequential order; the order may be of size, importance, chronology, and so on (e.g., "third", "tertiary"). They differ from cardinal numerals, ...
(Blust 2009:281).
Verbs
Below are reconstructed Proto-Austronesian, Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, Proto-Oceanic, and Proto-Polynesian verbs from th
Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database
Monosyllabic roots
The following are monosyllabic Proto-Austronesian roots reconstructed by John Wolff (Wolff 1999).
[Wolff, John. 1999. "The monosyllabic roots of Proto-Austronesian." In Elizabeth Zeitoun and Paul Jen-kuei Li, eds. 1999. ''Selected papers from the Eighth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics'', 139-194. Taipei, Taiwan: Academia Sinica.]
Forms which can be reconstructed as monosyllables with a great deal of certainty
* *baw 'up, above'
* *bay 'woman'
* *beg 'spool, wind'
* *bit 'carry in fingers'
* *buñ 'fontanelle'
* *but 'pluck out'
* *dem 'think, brood'
* *gem 'first, hold in fist'
* *ɣiq 'Imperata cylindrica'
* *kan 'eat'
** *si-kan 'fish, what is eaten with staple'
** *pa-kan 'feed, weft'
** *paN-kan 'eat, feed'
* *kub
** *kubkub 'cover over'
** *takub 'cover over in a cupped way' (where
*ta- is a fossilized prefix)
* *lid
** *belit 'wind'
** * 'wind, twist, or fold s.t. over'
** *pulid 'turn round'
* *luk 'concave bend'
* *lum 'ripe'
* *nem 'six'
* *ñam 'taste'
* *ñeŋ 'look, stare'
* *ŋa 'agape (mouth)'
** *kaŋa 'be open (as mouth)'
** *baŋa 'gap, stand open'
** *binaŋa (< -in- + baŋa) / *minaŋa 'mouth of river'
** *beŋa 'be agape'
** *búŋa 'flower'
** *paŋa 'forking'
** *ʃaŋa 'branch'
* *pan 'bait'
* *pat 'four'
* *peʃ 'squeeze, deflate'
* *pit
** *kepit 'pinched together'
* *pu 'grandparent/child'
* *put 'blow'
* *ʃaw 'wash, rinse off, dunk'
* *ʃay 'who?'
* *ʃek 'stuff, fill chock full'
* *ʃeŋ 'stop up'
* *ʃep 'suck'
* *ʃuk 'go in, through'
* *taw 'man'
* *tay 'bridge'
** *matay 'die'
** *patay 'dead, kill'
* *tuk 'strike, peck, beak'
Sequences which are likely (or may have been) monosyllabic roots, but cannot be unequivocally reconstructed
* *baŋ 'fly'
* *bu 'fish trap'
* *buʃ 'puff, blow out' (not well attested; most monosyllables occur in Oceanic languages)
* *dañ 'old (of things)'
* *daŋ 'heat near a fire'
* *dem 'dark, cloudy'
** *padem 'extinguish'
* *diʃ 'cut, lance'
* *ka 'elder sibling'
* *kid 'file, rasp'
* *lag 'spread out'
** *belag 'spread out'
** *pálag 'palm of hand'
** *qelag 'wing'
* *laŋ 'placed lengthwise'
** *galaŋ 'wedge, s.t. placed underneath to support'
** *halaŋ 'lie athwart, bar, be an obstacle'
* *leb 'for water to come over s.t.'
* *lem – reflexes variously mean 'night' or 'darkness'
* *luñ
** *luluñ 'roll up'
** *baluñ 'fold over, wrap'
* *muɣuɣ 'gargle, rinse out mouth' (monosyllabic status is weak)
* *pak 'make a sound of 'pak', wings (from the sound)'
* *tan 'set trap'
* *taʃ 'top'
* *tuk 'top, summit'
* *tun 'lead on a rope'
Reconstructed doubled monosyllables phonologically but which cannot be proven to be monosyllabic roots
* *baba 'carry on back'
* *bakbak 'remove outer layer of skin, bark'
* *baqbaq 'mouth'
* *bañbañ 'kind of reed used for mats, Donax canniformis'
* *bekbek 'pulverize'
* *biɣbiɣ 'lips (lip-like growth)'
* *biŋbiŋ 'hold, guide'
* *biʃbiʃ 'sprinkle'
* *buɣ(buɣ) 'broken into small pieces'
* *buñbuñ 'down, body hair' (only in Taiwan and the Philippines; probably not PAn)
* *dabdab 'set fire to'
* *dakdak 'slam s.t. down' (only in the Philippines)
* *dasdas 'chest'
* *debdeb 'chest'
* *diŋdiŋ 'wall'
* *diqdiq 'boil'
* *gapgap 'feel, grope'
* *ɣaʃɣaʃ 'scratched'
* *idid 'move rapidly in small motions' (e.g., 'fan')
* *jutjut 'pull at'
* *kaŋkaŋ 'spread the legs' (only in the Philippines and western Indonesia)
** *bakaŋ 'bow-legged'
** *kaqkaq 'split, torn, with intestines'
** *keŋkeŋ 'rigid, tight'
* *kepkep 'clasp'
** *dakep 'catch'
** *ʃikep 'catch s.t. moving, tight'
* *kiskis 'scrape off'
* *kiʃkiʃ 'grate, file'
* *kudkud 'grate, rasp, scratch out'
* *kañuskus 'fingernail'
* *kuʃkuʃ 'rub, scrape'
* *laplap 'flapping, loose (like skin on newborn)' (only in Paiwan and Philippine languages)
* *mekmek 'fragments'
* *neknek 'gnat, fruit fly'
* *nemnem 'think'
* *palaqpaq 'frond'
* *pejpej 'press together'
* *ququ 'crab'
* *sapsap 'grope'
* *ʃaʃa 'collect palm leaves for thatching'
* *ʃakʃak 'beat, chop'
* *ʃelʃel 'regret'
* *ʃelʃel 'insert, cram in'
* *ʃiʃi 'kind of mollusk'
* *ʃikʃik 'search through thoroughly (as for lice)'
* *ʃuʃu 'breast, teat'
* *ʃuɣʃuɣ 'follow behind'
* *ʃuŋʃuŋ 'go against' (only in the Philippines and western Indonesia)
* *taktak 'fall, drop'
* *tamtam 'smack lips' or taste'
* *taʃtaʃ 'rent, break thread'
** *bútaʃ 'hole'
** *ɣetaʃ 'break through, break open'
** *teʃteʃ 'rip open'
* *tutu 'strike'
* *waqwaq 'channel'
* *witwit 'swinging to and fro'
Sequences which occur as final syllables over a wide area but which cannot be reconstructed as a monosyllabic root
* *buk
** *dabuk 'ashes'
** *dábuk 'beat to pulp'
** *ɣabuk 'pulverized'
** *qabuk 'dust'
* *bun 'dew mist'
** *bun 'heap, stack'
** *subun 'heap, pile'
** *timbun / *tábun (?) 'heap'
** *ɣábun 'fog'
* *buq 'add, increase'
** *tubuq 'grow, shoot'
* *duŋ 'protect, shelter'
* *ket
** *deket 'near'
** *jeket 'stick'
** *ñiket / ñaŋket 'sticky'
** *ñiket 'sticky substance'
** *siket 'tie'
* *kuŋ
** *bekuŋ 'arch'
** *dekuŋ 'bent'
** *leŋkuŋ 'bent'
* *kup
** *aŋkup 'put in cupped hands'
** *tukup 'cover'
* *kut
** *dakut 'take in hand'
** *ɣakut 'tie together'
** *ʃaŋkut 'caught on a hook'
* *laq
** *telaq / *kelaq 'crack' or 'split'
** *belaq 'cleft'
* *liŋ
** *baliŋ 'wind around, turn s.t. around'
** *biliŋ 'turning round'
** *giliŋ 'roll over s.t.'
** *guliŋ 'roll up'
** *paliŋ 'wind around' or 'turn body'
* *liw
** *baliw 'return, go back'
** *ʃaliw 'give in exchange'
* *luʃ 'slip' or 'slippery' or 'smooth'
* *naw
** *línaw 'calm, unroiled'
** *tiqenaw 'clear'
* *ŋaw
** *baŋaw 'bedbug'
** *láŋaw 'fly'
** *tuŋaw 'kind of mite causing itch'
* *ŋet
** *qaŋet 'warm'
** *ʃeŋet 'sharp, stinger'
** *ʃeŋet 'acrid in smell'
* *paɣ 'be flat'
** *dampaɣ / *lampaɣ / *dapaɣ / *lapaɣ 'be flat'
** *sampaɣ 'mat, spread out'
* *puŋ 'cluster, bunch'
* *taɣ
** *dataɣ 'flat area'
See also
*
Austronesian personal pronouns This article describes the personal pronoun, personal pronoun systems of various Austronesian languages.
Proto-Austronesian language, Proto-languages
The Proto-Austronesian language, Proto-Austronesian and Proto-Malayo-Polynesian personal pronouns ...
*
Austronesian alignment
Symmetrical voice, also known as Austronesian alignment, the Philippine-type voice system or the Austronesian focus system, is a typologically unusual kind of morphosyntactic alignment in which "one argument can be marked as having a special rela ...
*
Fossilized affixes in Austronesian languages Fossilized affixes abound in Austronesian languages.
Formosan languages
Li and Tsuchida (2009) lists various fossilized reflexes of Proto-Austronesian infixes *-al-, *-aR-, and *-aN- in all major Formosan languages as well as Tagalog and Javanes ...
*
Proto-Malayo-Polynesian language
*
Proto-Philippine language
*
Proto-Oceanic language
Proto-Oceanic (abbr. ''POc'') is a proto-language that comparative linguistics, historical linguists since Otto Dempwolff have reconstructed as the hypothetical common ancestor of the Oceanic languages, Oceanic subgroup of the Austronesian langu ...
*
Proto-Polynesian language
Proto-Polynesian (abbreviated PPn) is the hypothetical proto-language from which all the modern Polynesian languages descend. It is a daughter language of the Proto-Austronesian language. historical linguistics, Historical linguists have reconstru ...
*
Proto-Austroasiatic language
*
Proto-Hmong–Mien language
*
Proto-Tibeto-Burman language
*
Wiktionary:Appendix:Cognate sets for Austronesian languages
References
Sources
*Adelaar, A. (2005). The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar: A historical perspective. In A. Adelaar, & N. P. Himmelmann (Eds.), ''The Austronesian Languages of Asia and Madagascar''. New York: Routledge. , ,
*Bouchard-Côtéa, A., Hallb, D., Griffithsc, T. L., & Kleinb, D. (2012). Automated reconstruction of ancient languages using probabilistic models of sound chang
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, PNAS, December 22, 2012.
* Blust, R. (1999). Subgrouping, circularity and extinction: Some issues in Austronesian comparative linguistics. In Zeitoun, E., & Li, P. J-K. (Eds.), ''Selected Papers From the 8th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics''. Taipei: Academica Sinica. https://web.archive.org/web/20170409095340/http://language.psy.auckland.ac.nz/austronesian/language.php?id=280
* Blust, R. A. (2009). ''The Austronesian Languages''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. .
* Cohen, E. M. K. (1999). ''Fundaments of Austronesian Roots and Etymology''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
* Greenhill, S. J., Blust. R, & Gray, R. D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271-283. https://web.archive.org/web/20170503020518/http://language.psy.auckland.ac.nz/austronesian/
* Wolff, John U. (2010). ''Proto-Austronesian Phonology with Glossary''. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Southeast Asia Program Publications.
Further reading
* Blust, Robert and Stephen Trussel. 2018
Austronesian Comparative Dictionary, web edition
* Dahl, Otto Christian. 1976. ''Proto-Austronesian'' (2nd, revised edition). Scandinavian Institute of Asian Studies Monograph Series, No. 15. London: Curzon Press.
* Dahl, Otto Christian. 1981. ''Early phonetic and phonemic changes in Austronesian''. Oslo: Instituttet for Sammenlignende Kulturforskning.
External links
* Blust, Robert and Trussel, Stephen (work-in-progress)
Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (ACD)ABVD: Proto-Austronesian (Blust)ABVD: Proto-Austronesian (Zorc)*
ABVD: Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (Blust)*
ABVD: Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (Zorc)**
ABVD: Proto-Central Eastern Malayo Polynesian (Blust)***
ABVD: Proto-Central Malayo Polynesian (Blust)****
ABVD: Proto-Oceanic (Blust)****
ABVD: Proto-Oceanic (Pawley)*****
ABVD: Proto-Micronesian (Bender)*****
ABVD: Proto-Polynesian (Pawley)
{{Austronesian languages
Austronesian languages
Austronesian
Austronesian may refer to:
*The Austronesian languages
*The historical Austronesian peoples
The Austronesian peoples, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples in Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, M ...