Mitochondrial DNA variation is an indicator of Austronesian influence in Island Melanesia

Merriwether, D. Andrew; Friedlaender, Jonathan S.; Mediavilla, José R.; Mgone, Charles S.; Gentz, Fred; Ferrell, Robert E.

doi:10.1002/(sici)1096-8644(199911)110:3<243::aid-ajpa1>3.0.co;2-m

Cited by 60 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…The variants found in Polynesian mitochondrial DNA, as with the ADH and ALDH results discussed, are consistent with a Taiwanese origin for the modern Polynesian and New Zealand Maori genome (Whyte et al 2005;Trejaut et al 2005), but there is also some evidence that a small amount of exchange occurred with the Melanesian peoples occupying the islands of western Oceania (Merriwether et al 1999;Sykes et al 1995, Cox 2003. This suggests that the modern Melanesian peoples have arisen from a similar introgression of the genepool of ancestral Austronesian-speaking migrants into the resident Papuan-speaking genepool encountered along the way.…”

Section: Mitochondrial Dna and The Matrilineal Migrationsupporting

confidence: 54%

Austronesian prehistory and Polynesian genetics

Marshall,

Whyte,

Hamilton

et al. 2023

nzsr

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The migration into and settlement of remote Oceania by the modern Polynesian and Māori peoples is a major achievement, which has been the subject of extensive research and scholarship. The routes taken by the Austronesian peoples and the origins of the migrations are subject to ongoing debate. We present a range of findings from molecular genetic studies of Polynesian and New Zealand Māori populations and a ‘synthetic total evidence theory’ that we suggest can account for key elements of the migrations.

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Section: Mitochondrial Dna and The Matrilineal Migrationsupporting

confidence: 54%

Austronesian prehistory and Polynesian genetics

Marshall,

Whyte,

Hamilton

et al. 2023

nzsr

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“…The Polynesian motif, so-called because it reaches very high frequencies in Polynesian populations, is actually distributed at varying frequencies throughout the coastal populations of Oceania, including Micronesia and coastal Melanesia 27,[29][30][31][32] . It is not found in highland New Guinea, and is virtually absent to the west of Wallace's line.…”

Section: Mitochondrial Dnamentioning

confidence: 99%

Fast Trains, Slow Boats, and the Ancestry of the Polynesian Islanders

Oppenheimer

Richards

2001

Science Progress

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The question of the origins of the Polynesians has, for over 200 years, been the subject of adventure science. Since Captain Cook's first speculations on these isolated Pacific islanders, their language affiliations have been seen as an essential clue to the solution. The geographic and numeric centre of gravity of the Austronesian language family is in island Southeast Asia, which was therefore originally seen as their dispersal homeland. However, another view has held sway for 15 years, the ‘out of Taiwan’ model, popularly known as the ‘express train to Polynesia’. This model, based on the combined evidence of archaeology and linguistics, proposes a common origin for all Austronesian-speaking populations, in an expansion of rice agriculturalists from south China/Taiwan beginning around 6,000 years ago. However, it is becoming clear that there is, in fact, little supporting evidence in favour of this view. Alternative models suggest that the ancestors of the Polynesians achieved their maritime skills and horticultural Neolithic somewhere between island Southeast Asia and Melanesia, at an earlier date. Recent advances in human genetics now allow for an independent test of these models, lending support to the latter view rather than the former. Although local gene flow occurring between the bio-geographic regions may have been the means for the dramatic cultural spread out to the Pacific, the immediate genetic substrate for the Polynesian expansion came not from Taiwan, but from east of the Wallace line, probably in Wallacea itself.

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“…The spread of Austronesian languages and cultural artifacts, such as Lapita pottery sherds, indicate that there was enough time in the Austronesian migration to retain shared linguistic foundations and cultural technologies, but there were also significant changes made to stylistic elements of the pottery and structural elements of the languages, enough to indicate significant Melanesian innovation (Merriwether, 1999;Sand & Bedford, 2010).…”

Section: Early Vanuatu Migrationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Sociolinguistic Study of Language Documentation: Denggan (Banam Bay, Malekula, Vanuatu)

Hoback

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In the country of Vanuatu, there are estimated to be as many as 138 different languages. Of those, there are still many languages which remain undocumented. Yet, with the move to integrate the vernacular local languages into the education system, speakers of these languages are developing orthography systems as a way of maintaining the vitality of their language in oral and written forms. Often the goals of language documentation and orthography development create a partnership between outside linguists and native speakers of the language. These joint projects are consistent with the current aims of linguists working in the field of language documentation and Indigenous academic researchers, who are calling for more collaborative research projects. Such scholars suggest that research on indigenous languages need to be undertaken ‘with’ communities, rather than ‘on’ or ‘for’ communities. However, this partnership brings questions, such as, what does collaboration look like and how do the community desires get prioritised amongst the various requirements of academic research. Furthermore, what does it mean to research ‘with’ when there may be differences in the epistemological foundations underlying the design of a project.This thesis is a result of a community orthography and language documentation project in Southeast Malekula, Vanuatu. It focuses on the language, Denggan, formerly known as Banam Bay Language or Burmbar (ISO code vrt-639-3) spoken by around 900-1000 speakers. Within this project two initial orthography workshops were conducted with community members to facilitate the transition of Denggan from a completely oral tradition into a new domain of written literacy. A separate grammatical analysis was undertaken to further the language documentation record and to assist in the creation of future pedagogical language resources. The presentation of this thesis is interdisciplinary and hybrid in its structure. It consists of a discussion on collaborative research design and Pacific Indigenous epistemologies, an exploration of the sociolinguistic background of Denggan as an endangered, yet vital language, a grammar sketch of Denggan phonetics and syntax, and a reflection on collaborative projects and the responsibilities of a researcher in working with Indigenous communities within such a project. The hybrid structure of this thesis allows for a contextualised approach of situating the project’s orthography workshop discussions and the linguistic grammatical analysis of Denggan within its historical and sociolinguistic contexts. This hybrid structure also allows for reflection on Pacific Melanesian and Western academic epistemic assumptions in approaching the design of a collaborative research project. This thesis provides an example of a unique language documentation project arising out of a community’s vision and coming to fruition through community involvement. It provides the theoretical basis for creating collaborative language documentation projects grounded in Pacific Indigenous epistemologies and reflects on important questions in navigating the differences between these epistemologies and Western academic assumptions regarding research. Lastly, the thesis contributes to the documentation record of Denggan through a grammar sketch with valuable data from recorded stories and conversations.

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Mitochondrial DNA variation is an indicator of Austronesian influence in Island Melanesia

Cited by 60 publications

References 84 publications

Austronesian prehistory and Polynesian genetics

Austronesian prehistory and Polynesian genetics

Fast Trains, Slow Boats, and the Ancestry of the Polynesian Islanders

A Sociolinguistic Study of Language Documentation: Denggan (Banam Bay, Malekula, Vanuatu)

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