Oceanic languages
| Oceanic | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution: |
Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia |
| Linguistic classification: | Austronesian
|
| Proto-language: | Proto-Oceanic |
| Subdivisions: |
Western Oceanic
|
| Ethnologue code: | 17-789 |
 The branches of Oceanic
Admiralties and Yapese
St Matthias
Western Oceanic
Temotu
Southeast Solomons
Southern Oceanic
Micronesian
Fijian–Polynesian
The black ovals at the northwestern limit of Micronesian are the Sunda–Sulawesi languages Palauan and Chamorro. The black circles in with the green are offshore Papuan languages. |
|
The approximately 450 Oceanic languages are a well-established family of Austronesian languages. The area occupied by speakers of these languages includes Polynesia as well as much of Melanesia and Micronesia.
Though covering a vast area, Oceanic languages are spoken by only two million people. The largest individual Oceanic languages are Eastern Fijian with over 600,000 speakers and Samoan with an estimated 370,000 speakers. Kiribati (Gilbertese), Tongan, Tahitian, Māori, Western Fijian and Kuanua (Tolai) each have over 100,000 speakers.
The common ancestor which is reconstructed for this group of languages is called Proto-Oceanic (abbr. POc).
Contents |
Classification [edit]
The Oceanic languages were first shown to be a language family by Sidney Herbert Ray in 1896, and besides Malayo-Polynesian, they are the only large established family of Austronesian languages. Grammatically, they have been strongly influenced by the Papuan languages of northern New Guinea, but they retain a remarkably large amount of Austronesian vocabulary.[1]
Lynch, Ross, & Crowley (2002) [edit]
According to Lynch, Ross, & Crowley (2002), Oceanic languages often form linkages with each other (see wave model). Linkages, for which no proto-language can be reconstructed, stand in contrast to families, for which proto-languages can actually be reconstructed. They propose three primary groups of Oceanic languages. (See links for the details of their classification.)
- Admiralties family
- Languages of Manus, its offshore islands, and small islands to the west
- Western Oceanic (WOc) linkage
- Languages of the north coast of Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea, excluding the Admiralties, and the western Solomon Islands. West Oceanic is made up of three sub-linkages:
- North New Guinea linkage (languages of the north coast of New Guinea, east from Jayapura)
- Meso-Melanesian linkage (languages of the Bismarck Archipelago and Solomon Islands)
- Papuan Tip linkage (languages of the tip of the Papuan Peninsula)
- Central/Eastern Oceanic (CEOc) linkage
- Nearly all languages of Oceania not included in the Admiralties and Western Oceanic. Central–Eastern consists of five subgroups:
- Southeast Solomonic family
- Utupua–Vanikoro [later removed to Temotu]
- Southern Oceanic linkage (languages of New Caledonia and Vanuatu)
- Central Oceanic linkage (Polynesian and the languages of Fiji)
- Micronesian family
The "residues" (as they are called by Lynch, Ross, & Crowley) which do fit into the three groups above but are still classified as Oceanic are:
- Languages of the St. Matthias Islands
- Yapese (perhaps part of the Admiralties)
Ross & Næss (2007) removed Utupua–Vanikoro to a new primary branch of Oceanic:[2]
Word order [edit]
Word order in Oceanic languages is highly diverse, and is distributed in the following geographic regions (Lynch, Ross, & Crowley 2002:49).
- SVO: Admiralty Islands, most of Markham Valley, Siasi Islands, most of New Britain, New Ireland, some parts of Bougainville Island, most parts of the southeast Solomon Islands, most parts of Vanuatu, some parts of New Caledonia, most of Micronesia
- SOV: central and southeast Papua New Guinea, some parts of Markham Valley, Madang coast, Wewak coast, Sarmi coast, a few parts of Bougainville, some parts of New Britain
- VSO: New Georgia, some parts of Santa Ysabel Island, much of Polynesia, Yap
- VOS: Fijian language, Anejom language, Loyalty Islands, Kiribati, many parts of New Caledonia, Gela language
- TVX (where T = topic, V = verb, X = arguments other than topic): much of Bougainville Island, Choiseul Island, some parts of Santa Ysabel Island
Notes [edit]
- ^ Mark Donohue and Tim Denham, 2010. Farming and Language in Island Southeast Asia: Reframing Austronesian History. Current Anthropology, 51(2):223–256.
- ^ Ross, Malcolm and Åshild Næss (2007). "An Oceanic Origin for Äiwoo, the Language of the Reef Islands?". Oceanic Linguistics 46: 456–498.
References [edit]
- Ray, S.H. (1896). "The common origin of the Oceanic languages". Journal of the Polynesian Society: 58–68.
- Lynch, John; Malcolm Ross; Terry Crowley (2002). The Oceanic languages. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon. ISBN 978-0-7007-1128-4. OCLC 48929366.
- Ross, Malcolm and Åshild Næss (2007). "An Oceanic Origin for Äiwoo, the Language of the Reef Islands?". Oceanic Linguistics 46: 456–498.
