Peter Norquest

This dataset is collection of 200-word Swadesh word lists associated with the following publication:<br>Lansing, S., G.S. Jacobs, S. S. Downey, P. Norquest, M. Cox, S.L. Kuhn, H. Sudoyo, P. Kusuma. In submission. Deep ancestry of contemporary mobile hunter-gatherers in Borneo. <br>

This paper examines the Kra-Dai and Austroasiatic evidence for a revised ProtoAustronesian consonant inventory that includes three new phonemicdistinctions (*f, *g, and *ɭ), and an expanded domain for two others (*ʈ and *c).Corroborative evidence is found in Kra-Dai, strengthening the hypothesis of agenetic relationship (Austro-Tai) between Kra-Dai and Austronesian.Evidence from Austroasiatic is weaker, but still suggestive of a non-accidentalrelationship with Austro-Tai, through either genetic relatedness or contact.

This dataset is collection of 200-word Swadesh word lists associated with the following publication:<br>Lansing, S., G.S. Jacobs, S. S. Downey, P. Norquest, M. Cox, S.L. Kuhn, H. Sudoyo, P. Kusuma. In submission. Deep ancestry of contemporary mobile hunter-gatherers in Borneo. <br>

The association between genetic and linguistic patterns is conventionally analyzed with comprehensive statistical measures such as the Mantel test. Here we present several new mathematical tools designed to disentangle the effects of horizontal (borrowing) and vertical (drift) transmission of genetic markers (microsatellites) and linguistic features. We apply these tools to the analysis of patterns of genetic and linguistic diversity on the Indonesian islands of Flores, Sumba, Lembata, Bali, Java, Mentawei and Nias. With regard to word flow, our procedure involves coding features from 62 200word samples of Austronesian languages and dialects spoken in Flores, Sumba, and Lembata; as well as comparable samples from Bali, Java, Mentawei and Nias. We sort the resulting feature lists by stripping apparent loanwords, in order to analyze rates of drift in the residual lists. Analysis of gene flow begins with genetic samples of 20-60 male villagers from ~45 villages located on the same isla...

Theories of early cooperation in human society often draw from a small sample of ethnographic studies of surviving populations of hunter–gatherers, most of which are now sedentary. Borneo hunter–gatherers (Punan, Penan) have seldom figured in comparative research because of a decades-old controversy about whether they are the descendants of farmers who adopted a hunting and gathering way of life. In 2018 we began an ethnographic study of a group of still-nomadic hunter–gatherers who call themselves Punan Batu (Cave Punan). Our genetic analysis clearly indicates that they are very unlikely to be the descendants of neighbouring agriculturalists. They also preserve a song language that is unrelated to other languages of Borneo. Dispersed travelling groups of Punan Batu with fluid membership use message sticks to stay in contact, co-operate and share resources as they journey between rock shelters and forest camps. Message sticks were once widespread among nomadic Punan in Borneo, but h...

This paper provides evidence for three Proto Austronesian (PAn) phonemes that are preserved in several distinct languages and subgroups. These include distinctions between *p and *f, *l and *ɭ, and *k and *g. In addition, we assert that there is expanded evidence in Malayo-Polynesian for two currently recognized phonemes: *ʈ (PAn *C) and *c; evidence for the former has been restricted until now to the Formosan languages, and for the latter to a small group of languages in western Indonesia. These contrasts can be found in Nias (one of the Barrier Island languages off the northwest coast of Sumatra), Dohoi (a Northwest Barito subgroup of Borneo), the Western Central Malayo-Polynesian languages of Bimanese, Hawu, Dhao, Western Oceanic, and more sparsely in languages of North Sarawak, the Philippines, and Sumba. The findings presented in this paper highlight the importance of the above languages and subgroups for PAn reconstruction, and the new phonemes presented here are placed within...

Within Oceanic, a phenomenon occurs in the two languages Rotuman and Kwara’ae, where what would otherwise be parsed as a bisyllabic foot made up of two light syllables in conservative speech is realized as a heavy, monosyllabic foot in regular discourse. Depending on the identity of the segments in the input, a variety of surface phenomena can occur, including metathesis and vowel coalescence (Figure 1).

In this paper, I ask the question of whether an original contrast between a series of voiced implosive and plain stops can be reconstructed for Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, or if all instances of this contrast are conditioned and ultimately secondary. The secondary development of implosives is examined in the North Sarawak languages, and I suggest that a similar mechanism may account for the development of preglottalized voiced stops and implosives in the Kra-Dai and Austroasiatic phyla. Direct evidence for the preservation of this distinction is then presented for the Western Central Malayo-Polynesian area, and indirect evidence for this distinction is presented for Proto-Oceanic and Nias (Barrier Islands).