2005/12/01 by Mark Donohue · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Austronesian languages #Ethnology #History #Language and cultural evolution #Linguistic Variation and Morphology #Linguistics #Mythology #New guinea #Order (exchange) #Philosophy #Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation #Word order
paper · doi:10.1353/ol.2005.0033
openalex publication_date 2005/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
It has been claimed that the appearance of SVO order in a non-Austronesian language of New Guinea and its environs is evidence of contact and influence from Austronesian languages. I suggest that, because SVO is an innovative order in Austronesian languages as well, the influence might well be in the other direction, from a period before the popularization of SOV in New Guinea.