Indo-Pacific linguistic area

E90134

The Indo-Pacific linguistic area is a proposed macro-area encompassing diverse, often non-Austronesian languages of the Indian and Pacific Ocean regions that are hypothesized to share deep historical connections and structural features.


Statements (43)
Predicate Object
instanceOf hypothetical language grouping
linguistic area
proposed linguistic macro-area
aimsToExplain distribution of non-Austronesian languages in the Indo-Pacific region
shared structural features among Papuan and other non-Austronesian languages
alsoKnownAs Indo-Pacific hypothesis
basedOn hypothesized deep historical connections
structural similarities among languages
contrastedWith Austronesian language family
Dené–Caucasian hypothesis
Nostratic hypothesis
criticizedFor insufficient regular sound correspondences
mixing areal and genetic evidence
reliance on mass lexical comparison
hasCharacteristic areal diffusion of linguistic features
genetic relationship is controversial
macro-comparative approach
typological similarities
hasGeographicScope Indian Ocean region
Pacific Ocean region
hasOppositionFrom many historical linguists
hasProponent Joseph Greenberg
hasStatus highly controversial
not widely accepted by historical linguists
hasTemporalScope deep prehistory
hasUncertainty degree of genetic vs areal relationship
membership of specific language families
includesLanguageFamily Andamanese languages
Papuan languages
Tasmanian languages
includesLanguageType non-Austronesian languages
includesRegion Andaman Islands NERFINISHED
Melanesia
New Guinea
Tasmania
influencedBy Papuan comparative studies
isPartOf long-range language comparison debates
methodologicalBasis mass comparison
typological comparison
proposedBy Joseph Greenberg
proposedIn 1971
relatedConcept linguistic area (Sprachbund)
macro-family hypothesis

Referenced by (1)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Nicobarese
belongsTo

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