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Contact and isolation in hunter-gatherer language dynamics: evidence from Maniq phonology (Aslian, Malay Peninsula)

Wnuk, Ewelina and Burenhult, Niclas LU (2014) In Studies in Language 38(4). p.956-981
Abstract
Maniq, spoken by 250-300 people in southern Thailand, is an undocumented geographical outlier of the Aslian branch of Austroasiatic. Isolated from other Aslian varieties and exposed only to Southern Thai, this northernmost member of the group has long experienced a contact situation which is unique in the Aslian context. Aslian is otherwise mostly under influence from Malay, and exhibits typological characteristics untypical of other Austroasiatic and Mainland Southeast Asian languages. In this paper we pursue a first investigation of the contrastive strategies of the Maniq sound system. We show that Maniq phonology is manifestly Aslian, and displays only minor influence from Thai. For example, Maniq has not developed tone, register or... (More)
Maniq, spoken by 250-300 people in southern Thailand, is an undocumented geographical outlier of the Aslian branch of Austroasiatic. Isolated from other Aslian varieties and exposed only to Southern Thai, this northernmost member of the group has long experienced a contact situation which is unique in the Aslian context. Aslian is otherwise mostly under influence from Malay, and exhibits typological characteristics untypical of other Austroasiatic and Mainland Southeast Asian languages. In this paper we pursue a first investigation of the contrastive strategies of the Maniq sound system. We show that Maniq phonology is manifestly Aslian, and displays only minor influence from Thai. For example, Maniq has not developed tone, register or undergone changes typically associated with tonogenesis. However, it departs from Aslian mainstream phonology by allowing extreme levels of variation in the realization of consonants, which in our view are best explained by its distinctive social ecology and geographical isolation. (Less)
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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Studies in Language
volume
38
issue
4
pages
956 - 981
publisher
John Benjamins Publishing Company
external identifiers
  • wos:000346134800009
  • scopus:84916197211
ISSN
0378-4177
DOI
10.1075/sl.38.4.06wnu
project
Digital Multimedia Archive of Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage (Dig-AAA)
Language, cognition and landscape: understanding cross-cultural and individual variation in geographical ontology
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Humanities Lab (015101200), Linguistics and Phonetics (015010003)
id
f0a9fa24-944c-42b0-8d50-8722feab49b3 (old id 4536978)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 09:42:50
date last changed
2023-11-15 19:31:29
@article{f0a9fa24-944c-42b0-8d50-8722feab49b3,
  abstract     = {{Maniq, spoken by 250-300 people in southern Thailand, is an undocumented geographical outlier of the Aslian branch of Austroasiatic. Isolated from other Aslian varieties and exposed only to Southern Thai, this northernmost member of the group has long experienced a contact situation which is unique in the Aslian context. Aslian is otherwise mostly under influence from Malay, and exhibits typological characteristics untypical of other Austroasiatic and Mainland Southeast Asian languages. In this paper we pursue a first investigation of the contrastive strategies of the Maniq sound system. We show that Maniq phonology is manifestly Aslian, and displays only minor influence from Thai. For example, Maniq has not developed tone, register or undergone changes typically associated with tonogenesis. However, it departs from Aslian mainstream phonology by allowing extreme levels of variation in the realization of consonants, which in our view are best explained by its distinctive social ecology and geographical isolation.}},
  author       = {{Wnuk, Ewelina and Burenhult, Niclas}},
  issn         = {{0378-4177}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{956--981}},
  publisher    = {{John Benjamins Publishing Company}},
  series       = {{Studies in Language}},
  title        = {{Contact and isolation in hunter-gatherer language dynamics: evidence from Maniq phonology (Aslian, Malay Peninsula)}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/sl.38.4.06wnu}},
  doi          = {{10.1075/sl.38.4.06wnu}},
  volume       = {{38}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}