The Proto-Austronesian Phoneme System and Its Implications for Austronesian Higher-Order Subgrouping: A Reconsideration of Data from The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary

This thesis re-examines the phoneme system of Proto-Austronesian, drawing on the Formosan language data and the reconstructions of the Proto-Austronesian lexicon in The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary. It considers the implications of this revised phoneme system for the subgrouping of the Formosan languages and the place of the Malayo-Polynesian languages in relation to that Formosan subgrouping. It proposes a simpler phoneme system than that used in The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary, with a coronal rather than a palatal centre of gravity, and a revised subgrouping of the Formosan languages that includes two new primary branches of Austronesian, one that incorporates the East Formosan languages and Bunun, and potentially also the Malayo-Polynesian languages, defined by the merger of *t and *C as t, and one that incorporates Rukai, Puyuma and Paiwan, and potentially also the Malayo-Polynesian languages, defined by the split of *k into k and g. It also proposes two replacement defining innovations for the Atayalic branch, namely the merger of *l and *N as l and the shift of *R to g, and an additional defining innovation for the Northwest Formosan branch, namely the shift of *j to z, complementing the already recognized merger of *S and *C as s, which form the voiceless and voiced pair of a spirantization process in Northwest Formosan that affects all affricates.