In Defense of the Numeral-based Model of Austronesian Phylogeny, and of Tsouic

Laurent Sagart (1)

1 CRLAO - Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l'Asie Orientale

This paper responds to all of Malcolm Ross's criticisms, published in Language and Linguistics 13.6 (2012), of Sagart's numeral-based model of Austronesian phylogeny (Sagart 2004). It shows that a part of these criticisms is addressed to an invented version of Sagart's model, while another appeals to questionable principles. It points out various errors of fact and interpretation. It also criticizes Ross's own account of the evolution of early Austronesian numerals, showing that it has little explanatory power, fails to account for phonological irregularities, and cannot explain the observed nesting pattern among numeral isoglosses. Finally, this paper shows that Tsouic, a Formosan subgroup which contradicts Ross's phylogeny, is valid.

Mots clés: Austronesian; classification; numerals; phylogeny subgrouping

Domaines: Linguistique

Laurent Sagart. In Defense of the Numeral-based Model of Austronesian Phylogeny, and of Tsouic. Language and Linguistics, 2014, 15 (6), pp.859-882. ⟨10.1177/1606822X14544623⟩. ⟨halshs-02546561⟩