Schedule 80. StuTS

Austronesian symmetrical voice languages have typically been classified into two groups, namely Philippine- and Indonesian-type languages, a distinction made on purely typological grounds. While the former are viewed as more conservative, similarities within the latter are attributed to shared innovations. Nevertheless, as noted by Himmelmann (2002), in contrast to the relatively homogeneous Philippine type, Indonesian-type is often used as an umbrella term encompassing all kinds of non-Philippine characteristics, resulting in a vague category defined by exclusion. This is especially apparent in transitional areas such as Borneo, where one can encounter both types forming a heterogeneous typological continuum. While the transitional nature of areas such as Borneo and Sulawesi has long been noted, a systematic investigation of these areas is still pending. This talk addresses this gap by means of a typological survey of the languages of Borneo. We gathered grammatical data from 44 Bornean languages with regard to the voice system, morphology, NP markers, and sets of pronouns, among others.
The results confirm the transitional status of Bornean languages, with some of them not clearly fitting the description of a symmetrical voice system. The main finding is that, although most languages have not preserved all typical Philippine conservative traits, they have not yet developed many of the innovations that define prototypically Indonesian-type languages, the main outliers being Malayic languages, which closely resemble Indonesian in this respect. Conversely, Philippine traits are mostly restricted to Sabahan and North Sarawakan languages.
By means of a series of typological maps, we present an overview of the geographical distribution of each feature. We then discuss how these findings can provide new insights into the diachronic development of the Indonesian type as well as help further identify its defining features and the languages that conform to it.