Is Puyuma a Primary Branch of Austronesian?

• Published in: Oceanic linguistics Vol. 49; no. 1; pp. 194 - 204
• Main Author: Sagart, Laurent
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Honolulu, HI University of Hawaii Press 01.06.2010; University of Hawai'i Press; University Press of Hawaii
• Subjects: Analysis; Austronesian Languages; Diachrony and historical linguistics; Dictionaries; Discourse Markers; Evolution; Formosan languages; Grammar; Grammatical aspect; Historical linguistics; Humanities and Social Sciences; Innovations; Language; Language Classification; Language History; Linguistics; Morphology; Native languages; Philologists; Phylogeny; Pronouns; Ross, Malcolm; Sociolects; Suffixes; Ultraviolet reflection; Verbs; Voice; Words; Works; Linguistic theory; Language classification; Historical linguistics; Morphology; Verb; Genetic relationship; Ross Austronesian phylogeny innovation morphology
• ISSN: 0029-8115; 1527-9421
• DOI: 10.1353/ol.0.0070

Malcom Ross's new theory of early Austronesian phylogeny is examined. I describe evidence that *-en served to mark verbs in undergoer voice, patient subject, in a language ancestral to Puyuma, as well as evidence that * occurs in some verbs in undergoer voice, patient subject perfective, in one sociolect of Nanwang Puyuma. This evidence falsifies the claim that Puyuma reflects an early Austronesian stage at which *-en and * had not yet been reinterpreted from nominalizers into voice markers. It also falsifies the phylogeny that takes that putative innovation as its central event. A hypothetical scenario is offered to account for the replacement of the *-en, *-an, and *Si-(or *Sa-) series of voice markers by the series now found in Puyuma independent verbs.