PAN Reflex in Maya Language in West New Guinea: A Preliminary Study on Understanding The Concept of South Halmahera-West New Guniea

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.201215.081How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Basic lexicons, cultural lexicons, Proto-Austronesia reflex, shared innovation, top-down approach

Abstract

This study aimed at uncovering reflexes of the Proto-Austronesian (PAN) in Maya language, spoken in Raja Ampat, West Papua province, and verifying the concepts that define South Halmahera-West Papua group proposed by Adriani and Kruyt (1914), Blust (1993), Ross (1994), and Kamholz (2014). To achieve these purposes, as many as 200 basic and 500 cultural lexicons of the Maya language were collected using the interview method, and the collection of PAN phonemes, which was reconstructed by Blust and Trussel (2015), was used. Data analysis used the top-down approach involving a comparative method and exclusively shared innovation technique, guided by the historical linguistic data analysis framework. The study showed that the phonemes of PAN have undergone regular and irregular retention and innovation. Examining PAN reflexes in the Maya language, the concepts of the South Halmahera-West Papua group, which are marked by the innovation of *p to /f/ and *e to /o/, was evidenced. Regular omission of the vowels in the final position appeared in *u and *a. The disappearance of the vowels in the middle position was observed in *u. However, there was no evidence of vowel omission in the beginning position. The innovation of *e and *a to /e/ in the final position was not evidenced. The concept, that says *a/_# innovates to: ya-, was not found, and the concept, which hypothesizes that *j innovates to /s/, lacked relevance because *j regularly innovates to /j/, /s/, and /h/. Likewise, the concept, that argues the merging of *k, *q, *h, *H to: /ø/, was not adequately supported. Regarding these findings, the concepts of the South Halmahera-West Papua group require a further formulation through undertaking intensive studies involving all members of the South Halmahera-West Papua group to reveal more sufficient evidence and comprehensive perspectives.

Copyright

© 2020, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Paesal Hadi
AU  - Burhanuddin
AU  - Sukri
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/12/17
TI  - PAN Reflex in Maya Language in West New Guinea: A Preliminary Study on Understanding The Concept of South Halmahera-West New Guniea
BT  - Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Language, Literature, Culture, and Education (ICOLLITE 2020)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 521
EP  - 528
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.201215.081
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.201215.081
ID  - Hadi2020
ER  -