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Article: Chamorro Historical Phonology [1].
- Article from:
- Oceanic Linguistics
- Article date:
- June 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 University of Hawaii Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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After a brief look at the synchronic phonology of this language of the Mariana Islands, the details of its development from Proto-Austronesian are set forth. Questions of subgrouping within Austronesian and the original settlement of these islands are also considered.
1. BACKGROUND. Only two of the more than 450 Austronesian (AN) languages spoken in the Pacific region do not belong to the Oceanic subgroup. One of these is Palauan, the other Chamorro. The history of these languages differs markedly from that of other AN languages in Micronesia, and from one another. Each appears to have arisen through separate migrations out of insular Southeast Asia some ...