Barito languages
| Barito | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution: |
southern Borneo, Madagascar |
| Linguistic classification: | Austronesian
|
| Subdivisions: | |
The Barito languages are a score of Dayak (Austronesian) languages of Borneo, and most famously Malagasy, the national language of Madagascar. They are named after the Barito River.
The Barito family is sometimes split up into its constituent components, East Barito, West Barito, and Mahakam (Barito–Mahakam), given the possibility that their similarities may be due to a Sprachbund. A 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database[1] supported the unity of Barito at a confidence level of 97%. However, such approaches cannot distinguish genealogical relations from areal groups, and Adelaar (2005) rejects Barito as a valid group despite accepting less traditional groups such as North Bornean and Malayo-Sumbawan.
Blust (2006) proposes that the Sama-Bajaw languages also derive from the Barito lexical region, though not from any established group,[2] and Ethnologue has followed, calling the resulting group 'Greater Barito'.
[edit] References
- ^ Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database
- ^ Blust, Robert. 2006. 'The linguistic macrohistory of the Philippines'. In Liao & Rubino, eds, Current Issues in Philippine Linguistics and Anthropology. pp 31–68.
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