The article regarding Austronesian dispersal by Peter Bellwood is a great prologue to Comparative Linguistics by Ritsuko Kikusawa. Though these articles compliment each other numerous ways; they both fit chronologically and explain linguistically similar characteristics and evolution within their respective time frames; I found the latter article to be easier to understand as it simplified how language evolution can occur.
Figure A from Austronesian Dispersal depicts the Genealogy of Austronesian Languages; which if you look at the upper right of the evolution is Polynesian; which segways to Figure B which depicts further geographical disbursement and linguistic evolution of the Austronesians.
Figure A
Figure B
For more details on Austronesian Language comparison, "CLICK HERE"
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One point that I found very interesting from this article was the similarity of words in the Austronesian language family. For example, the word for “canoe” sounds very similar in many Austronesian languages: “wa’a” in Hawaiian, “va’a” in Sāmoan, and “vaka” in Rapanui. Some words are even exactly the same, such as the word for “bird”, which is “manu” in Tongan, Niuean, Sāmoan, Rapanui, Māori, and Hawaiian. This shows the reader the common line of descent of all of these Pacific Island languages. Being able to trace the lineage of a language also allows other researchers, such as archaeologists and historians, to determine migration routes and common genetic ancestry. Therefore, this type of linguistic research is helpful not only to the development of the field of linguistics, but also to other forms of research as well.
ReplyDeleteOne aspect of the spread of the Austronesian language that I found interesting was the discovery and widespread use of farming. This revolution added the stability that made the spread of language and their culture possible. It is amazing to think that prior to 1500 AD Austronesian was the most widespread language in the world. The Europeans viewed most of the people that spoke the language as savages and far less advanced, yet their culture, language, agricultural techniques, and technologies helped them colonize a far greater area then that of the Europeans at the time.
ReplyDeleteI've always found it interesting to see how language has evolved and changed as it moved along in both time and location. Now that I've had a taste of the lineage of Austronesian languages, I'd have to say that it's fascinating to see how widespread the language family is and the number of words that remain the same or very similar in each language. Like Bryce B, I too find it amazing that these people who the Europeans had thought of as primitive where able to expand their people, language, and technologies much farther than the Europeans had. It must have been quite a blow to the European's conception when they had realized this for themselves.
ReplyDeleteI think that pictures like Figure A and B make it easier to understand how languages can evolve and change. In the link, there’s a lot of information relevant to the readings we did, as well as a listing of numerous languages spoken in the Austronesian Family, and I enjoyed reading about these languages such as Balinese and Sawu. Also, comparative linguistics pops up again as in “The List”, you can see how similar some languages are like the Hawaiian word kahi for one, and the Rapanui word tahi with the same meaning. Another example of the similarities of these two languages is the word ahi for fire, which is the same in both Hawaii and Rapanui.
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ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how hundreds and thousands of different languages could have evolved from one common parent language (Austronesian). It makes me wonder how and why speakers of these languages chose what words to change and what words to keep. Whatever the reason, it definitely helps linguists trace the migration patterns of these people back to where the language originated from. In doing so, we learn so much more than just the language. We learn about their culture and their social values. Through language change, we also learn about their intelligence. By that I mean, what they were individually exposed to. Like Akiemi said in class, if a language has the word "mountain" in the vocabulary when it wasn't existing in previously traced languages, it shows that these people were exposed to mountains in their area.
ReplyDeleteIt is eye opening to see the many different languages that have evolved over time. There seems to be a deep history of today’s modern day languages of the Pacific. But as someone who is relatively new to the subject of linguistics, I would like to bring up the point of how abstract this can all be. There is no context for me to situate what Proto Nuclear Polynesian or Proto Tongic is. As I am sure I am not the only one who feels this way. Perhaps with more time and experience with all of these terms I will begin to get a better understanding as we go through this semester.
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ReplyDeleteWhat seems to be very interesting about the Austronesian language family is where they originally developed. I would have never thought that all these languages traced back from Taiwan. During our lecture, it made more sense to me of why it came from this place. Like Akiemi said, agriculture and the diversity were the main aspects of how the languages evolved. She also explained that it made more sense for all the different languages to originally come from Taiwan rather than all these languages coming from different places and settling into Taiwan. I find it very intriguing on how far the languages spread across the Pacific. Knowing that there are approximately 1,200 different languages in the Austronesian language family makes me wonder how closely related we are through language, tradition, and culture.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to me how the Austronesian family language developed. The various languages came about from one single parent language and spread across the different island chains. The agriculture changed and modified the languages to fit into their daily lives. These figure maps helped to see where each language came from and it reveals how all the cultural languages are so closely related to each other. It is amazing to know that we are all inter-connected by the same family origin genealogy. Not only do languages shape our lives, they provide a background history of times before and how each future language developed.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the Kikusawa article being easier to understand. The tables and figures showcase very clearly how Austronesian languages began their evolution in the Pacific and how linguists analyze them. What I found to be very interesting in the Kikusawa article is how dialect chains developed. It is crazy to think that over time a group of people who once spoke the same language were not capable of understanding each other because of living on opposite ends of an island. Although it was probably not the intention of the Pacific islanders to create a language different from the one they had started out speaking, the Austronesian language family is without a doubt richer and more diverse because of these dialect chains.
It was amazing to see how the Austronesian Language family developed into about 1,200 different languages out of approximately 6,000-7,000 spoken on Earth. That’s a lot of different languages just in the Austronesian family. I agree that the Ritsuko Kikusawa article was much easier to understand than the Bellwood one. These figures helped me understand more clearly of how all of the languages are similar to one another. I always wondered how languages changed through time. These articles and as well as Akiemi cleared my confusion on this subject. It’s interesting to see how linguist discover the parent languages and the daughter languages all through the way words are pronounced and spelled. I am looking forward to learning more about the Austronesian language family.
ReplyDeleteAs Akiemi emphasized in the class:languages are changing gradually and constantly. You might not find out what has changed in a short period. From Peter Bellwood's perspective, agricultural cultivation is the main reason for the spread of Austornesian language, which made a lot of sense. Because at the time, people relied much upon agriculture to survive. And it was understandable to find the rich land to grow the plants. However, what surprised me was the origin of Austronesian language. It was from Taiwan. Actually, my province-Fujian is only across the strait of Taiwan. Why didn't Austronesian language have any impact in my hometown? I am curious about that.
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