The Austronesian-Papuan contact history of eastern Timor: What lexical borrowing can tell us

Speakers of Austronesian and Papuan languages have lived in close proximity on the island of Timor for at least 3000 years (see Klamer & Ewing 2010 and references therein). In this talk, I use evidence from loanwords to further our understanding of the nature and timing of contact between these two groups, focusing on the eastern tip of Timor. Three Papuan languages are spoken today in that area: Makasae, Makalero and Fataluku. Together with Oirata on the adjacent Indonesian island of Kisar, they form a well-defined subgroup within the Papuan Timor-Alor-Pantar (TAP) family, i.e. the Eastern Timor (ET) subgroup. Isolated from the other members of the TAP family, these four languages show considerable linguistic and cultural influence from the surrounding Austronesian languages. The two subgroups of Austronesian languages they are in contact with are (i) Kawaimina languages (Kairui, Waima’a Midiki and Naueti), and (ii) Kisar-Luangic languages (Kisar/Meher, Leti, Luang, possibly also Makuva). Several interesting observations emerge from a preliminary study of a list of Austronesian etyma found in ET languages: firstly, a large number of Austronesian etyma does not show the expected sound correspondences. Secondly, there is a significant number of Austronesian etyma in ET that do not appear to have a reflex in the modern Austronesian languages of the region. This suggests that ET may have been in contact with one (or more) Austronesian language(s) that is (are) no longer extant today. Thirdly, there are many ‘regional’ etyma, which are widespread in both the Papuan and the Austronesian languages, but are not reconstructed to Austronesian at large. The direction of borrowing is not clear in those cases. The goals of this talk are to:

• Identify layers of borrowings from Austronesian languages either directly into PET or subsequently into its daughter languages

• Trace borrowings back to Austronesian languages, in particular Kawaimina languages on Timor or Kisar-Luang languages in Southwest Maluku

• Inform our understanding of the historical interactions of Austronesian- and Papuanspeaking groups in the Timor area