Bethwyn Evans

Maternal History of Oceania from Complete mtDNA Genomes: Contrasting Ancient Diversity with Recent Homogenization Due to the Austronesian Expansion

Archaeology, linguistics, and existing genetic studies indicate that Oceania was settled by two major waves of migration. The first migration took place approximately 40 thousand years ago and these migrants, Papuans, colonized much of Near Oceania. Approximately 3.5 thousand years ago, a second expansion of Austronesian-speakers arrived in Near Oceania and the descendants of these people spread to the far corners of the Pacific, colonizing Remote Oceania. To assess the female contribution of these two human expansions to modern populations and to investigate the potential impact of other migrations, we obtained 1,331 whole mitochondrial genome sequences from 34 populations spanning both Near and Remote Oceania. Our results quantify the magnitude of the Austronesian expansion and demonstrate the homogenizing effect of this expansion on almost all studied populations. With regards to Papuan influence, autochthonous haplogroups support the hypothesis of a long history in Near Oceania, with some lineages suggesting a time depth of 60 thousand years, and offer insight into historical interpopulation dynamics. Santa Cruz, a population located in Remote Oceania, is an anomaly with extreme frequencies of autochthonous haplogroups of Near Oceanian origin; simulations to investigate whether this might reflect a pre-Austronesian versus Austronesian settlement of the island failed to provide unequivocal support for either scenario.

The History of Proto-Oceanic *ma-

Malcolm Ross (1) We examine the history of the Proto-Oceanic (POc) stative verb derivative [ma-.sup.*], whose distribution in POc reconstructions raises certain problems, as POc lexical reconstructions with [ma-.sup.*] can be placed in four groups: (a) valency-decreasing [ma-.sup.*]; (b) fossilized reflexes of [ma-.sup.*] on stative verbs; (c) stative (adjectival) verbs that can be reconstructed in POc both with and without [ma-.sup.*], with no obvious difference in meaning between the forms with and without the prefix; and (d) fossilized reflexes of [ma-.sup.*] on experiential verbs. Examination of the uses of non-Oceanic cognates of POc [ma-.sup.*] suggests that [ma-.sup.*] already had three distinct functions in Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, one ancestral to (a) above, the second ancestral to (b) and (c), and a third (minor) use ancestral to (d). In function (a), [ma-.sup.*] remained somewhat productive in POc. In the other two functions, it had ceased to be productive. We pay attention especially to (b) and (c) in order to better understand the origin of the untidy distribution of [ma-.sup.*] on sta tive (adjectival) verbs. 1. INTRODUCTION. Two prefixes, [ma-.sup.*] and [ta-.sup.*], have been reconstructed as stative verb derivatives in Proto-Oceanic (POc), with [ta-.sup.*] also indicating the notion of spontaneity (Pawley 1972:38-39, 45). Both prefixes derived intransitive verbs with an undergoer subject from transitives that had an actor subject and an undergoer object. The prefix [ma-.sup.*], however, evidently had other functions, too, as we can reconstruct POc stative intransitives with [ma-.sup.*] that had no transitive counterpart. These fall into two classes: (i) intransitives that appear to have had two forms, one with and one without [ma-.sup.*], with no reconstructable difference in meaning; and (ii) intransitives that seem always to have occurred with [ma-.sup.*]. Our objective in this paper is to give an account of the distribution of POc [ma-.sup.*] and to explain the origins of this distribution. We will attempt the reconstruction of the POc system from two perspectives. In section 2 we examine the uses of [ma-.sup.*] in those languages for which we have good descriptions and in which it remains at least somewhat productive, and then in section 3 we look at POc reconstructions of etyma containing [ma-.sup.*]. After summarizing the distribution of POc [ma-.sup.*] and looking at some non-Oceanic cognates in section 4, we seek in section 5 to account for its origins. We assume, following Pawley (1973:126-140) and Ross (1998a:21-23), that POc had two major classes of intransitive verbs: those with an actor subject and those with an undergoer subject. Intransitives with an actor subject were probably always dynamic. All intransitives with an undergoer subject could be used statively, but, depending on their aspect marking, at least some (and perhaps potentially all) could also be used dynamically. Such a system is described for Fijian by Arms (1974, 1990), Foley (1976), and Dixon (1988). We will be concerned here mostly with intransitives with an undergoer subject, as it was these that were formed with *ma-. We will argue that at least some of these verbs could be used both dynamically and statively. (2) A number of the POc reconstructions referred to in this paper are reconstructions of POc adjectival verbs (Ross 1998b). These were undergoer-subject verbs that could also be used without additional morphology as modifiers (attributes) in noun phrases. It is not clear whether all POc undergoer-subject intransitives could be used as adjectival verbs or only a subset of them, but this does not affect the theme of this paper. 2. REFLEXES OF *MA- IN OCEANIC LANGUAGES. The Proto-Oceanic prefix *ma- is reflected in modern Oceanic languages in two ways: (a) as a (semi-) productive valency-decreasing prefix; and (b) as a fossilized prefix occurring as the initial segment of undergoer-subject verbs. …

Subject Agreement in Marovo: Diachronic Explanations of Synchronic Conditions

In many Oceanic languages, subject arguments are indexed by preverbal markers within the verb complex. In Marovo, an Oceanic language of the Solomon Islands, such subject markers show unusual synchronic behavior, in that their presence is conditioned by both morphosyntactic and pragmatic characteristics of the clause. Thus, in Marovo preverbal subject markers occur obligatorily with certain clause-initial discourse connective particles and with the negative particle. Subject markers also occur outside of these morphosyntactic environments, where their use contrasts with that of other expressions of the subject argument, including lexical or pronominal noun phrases or the lack of overt expression. Within this context of subject expression more generally, the occurrence of Marovo subject markers can be seen to be determined by the discourse role of the subject argument. It is argued here, through comparison of Marovo subject marking with that in closely related languages, that these synchronic condition shave diachronic explanations.