Re: Saalangal stuff

Roger Mills writes:

>But if I'm not mistaken, Aklanon is very clearly a member of the Bisayan
>family, which seems always to have been in the Central PI...and the
>time-depth is certainly greater than 800 years.  But the tradition doesn't
>sound unreasonable. It could be that a bunch of people came up from Borneo
>and imposed themselves (military or more likely as traders)  on a group
>that
>was speaking "Early Aklanon".  That seems to have happened fairly
>frequently
>in the PI/Indo world.
Interesting. I'm assuming the settlement of Aklan was probably militarial,
because the datus were quick to set up a united government, instead of
disconnected barangays.

I wouldnt be too surprised though. The story goes that the datus were
escaping an opressive datu in Borneo and decided to leave and establish
the Minuro it Akean (as i understand it). In the story, they also "bought"
the island of Panay from the Aeta (negritos), who "agreed" to move up into
the central highlands, and leave the lowlands to the Akeanons. The
Ati-Atihan festival celebrates this, although it's become something of a
good friday religious feast now.

>
>(Are Kinaray-a and Ilonggo also Bisayan languages? I forget)  The
>classification of PI languages has been in dispute for a long time and I
>suspect still is.  "Philippine type" languages-- characterized by verbal
>morphology, sometimes tense distinctions or realis/irrealis, and fairly
>obvious focus systems-- are found from Taiwan south thru the PI into
>northern Borneo and the northern arm of Sulawesi (also in the tip of the
>eastern arm and Banggai Isl.), and IIRC Chamorro of Guam. At the southern
>end, there are very sharp dividing lines between Philippine vs. other
>types,
>suggesting that Borneo and Sulawesi are relatively recent interlopers.

Kinaray-a and Ilonggo are related to Aklanon, and are indeed Bisayan
languages. Ilonggo is the lingua franca for Capiz, Parts of Antique,
Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Guimaras, and also South Cotobato in Mindanao.
It has about 7 million speakers. Kinaray-a is related to Ilonggo, and is
spoken mainly in Antique (interesting not: the old name is Hamtik, from
what i've read the Spanish chose "Antique" because it sounded close enough
to Hamtik. True? I dont know :)).

I wonder though, is the focus/trigger system a recent or older development
among some Austronesian languages? Is that even known, or is that up for
debate?