Proto-Austronesian Language - Sound Changes

Sound Changes

See also: Formosan languages#Sound changes

As Proto-Austronesian transitioned to Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, Proto-Oceanic, and Proto-Polynesian, the phonemic inventories were continually reduced by merging formerly distinct sounds into one sound. 3 mergers were observed in the Proto-Austronesian to Proto-Malayo-Polynesian transition, while 9 were observed for the Proto-Oceanic to Proto-Polynesian transition. Thus, Proto-Austronesian has the most elaborate sound system, while Proto-Polynesian has the least phonemes. For instance, the Hawaiian language is famous for having only 8 consonants, while Maori has only 10 consonants. This is a sharp reduction from the 25 consonants of the Proto-Austronesian language that was originally spoken in Taiwan or possibly southern China.

Blust also observed the following mergers and sound changes between Proto-Austronesian and Proto-Malayo-Polynesian.

Proto-Austronesian and
Proto-Malayo-Polynesian Sound Changes

Proto-Austronesian	Proto-Malayo-Polynesian
*C/t	*t
*N/n	*n
*S/h	*h
*eS	*ah

However, according to Wolff (2010:241), Proto-Malayo-Polynesian's development from Proto-Austronesian only included the following three sound changes.

• PAn *ɬ > PMP *ñ, l, n
• PAn *s > PMP *h
• PAn *h > PMP *Ø

Proto-Oceanic merged even more phonemes. This is why modern-day Polynesian languages have some of the most restricted consonant inventories in the world.

Proto-Malayo-Polynesian and
Proto-Oceanic Sound Changes

Proto-Malayo-Polynesian	Proto-Oceanic
*b/p	*p
*mb/mp	*b
*c/s/z/j	*s
*nc/nd/nz/nj	*j
*g/k	*k
*ŋg/ŋk	*g
*d/r	*r
*e/-aw	*o
*-i/uy/iw	*i

Bizarre sound changes that occurred within the Austronesian language family are:

• Proto-Oceanic *t > k in Hawaiian, Samoan, and Luanguia
• Proto-Polynesian *l and *r > ŋg in Rennellese
• Proto-Oceanic *w and *y > p in Levei and Drehet
• Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *w or *b > Sundanese c- or -nc-