Polynesian languages: Difference between revisions

Returning to lexicostatistics, it must be emphasised that the method does not make the best possible use of its short word lists of 100 or 200 words. Dyen's<ref>{{Cite book |first=Isidore |last=Dyen |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/641979453 |title=A lexicostatistical classification of the Austronesian languages. |date=1965 |oclc=641979453}}</ref> massive lexicostatistical study of Austronesian, for instance, showed a great deal of (lexicostatistical) diversity in the Austronesian languages of Western Melanesia. This was sometimes on par with the lexicostatistical distance of Taiwan Austronesian languages from other Austronesian including Taiwan Austronesian languages from each other (Taiwan now definitively known to be the homeland of the language family itself). But the low lexicostatistical agreement of many Western Melanesian [[Oceanic languages]] with other Oceanic Austronesian can be easily dismissed as of little subgrouping interest because those languages are nevertheless full of diagnostic innovations of Oceanic Austronesian in their sound systems and vocabulary, including many Oceanic lexical innovations found in the 100 and 200 lexicostatistical word lists (and the deadly conclusive evidence of the shared phonological innovations of those low-scoring groups with all other Oceanic Austronesian). The Western Oceanic Melanesian "diversity" of lexicostatistical studies was never of any interest in terms of attributing any special time depth or subgrouping significance to it. They are just languages with accelerated loss of vocabulary, sometimes, in the Western{{Clarify|date=August 2015}} Oceanic case, because they involve certain more ancient peoples of the region shifting to Oceanic speech after Oceanic-speaking peoples arrived.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ross |first=Malcolm |chapter=The integrity of the Austronesian language family: from Taiwan to Oceania |editor-first1=Alicia |editor-last1=Sanchez-Mazas |editor-first2=Roger |editor-last2=Blench|editor-link2=Roger Blench |editor-first3=Malcolm |editor-last3=Ross|editor-link3=Malcolm Ross (linguist) |editor-first4=Ilia |editor-last4=Peiros|editor-link4=Ilia Peiros |editor-last5=Lin |editor-first5=Marie |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/476179063 |title=Past Human Migrations in East Asia : Matching Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics. |date=2008 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-203-92678-9 |oclc=476179063|pp=161–181}}</ref>

 

<div style="overflow:auto;">

{| class="wikitable" |