Presented as part of the Language Change Seminar Series

Speaker

Owen Edwards

Abstract

I argue that Enggano (Barrier Islands, Sumatra) forms a first order subgroup within the Malayo-Polynesian branch of Austronesian. The evidence for this comes from several typologically unusual and regionally unattested sound changes as well as a very high rate of lexical replacement on a scale not otherwise attested in the region.
This finding has important implications for our understanding of the pre-history of western Island South East Asia. I posit that Enggano predates other present day Austronesian languages of the region and that it represents an early, possibly the first, movement of Austronesian languages into Sumatra. I also examine the evidence for contact and conclude that there is circumstantial evidence that Enggano has undergone contact with a non-Austronesian language.