Re: Shady Austronesian Linguistics

>"Agreed. Shall we form a committee? I'll contribute Austronesian/Polynesian
>and rusty Latin....."
Chollie wrote:
>     I wonder if there would be others on this list would be up to the
>challenge... specifically, I would like to know what people think about...
>
>...the language that the Jews and Druids used aboard the Roman galley?  The
>Jews of those days used Aramaic as a vernacular and Greek in their dealings
>with the outside world, although there is apparently some evidence of a
>broken "trading Latin" and/or a mixed Greek-Latin used in the ports of the
>Roman Empire.  I don't know what language the Druids would have used in
such
>a situation.>
Depending on where the Druids came from-- Gaulish or other Celtic.  Perhaps
Hebrew/Aramaic and Celtic could contribute to the religious vocabulary.

>...the significance of Polynesian element in the makeup of the original
>language of Waponi Woo?  Would the Jews, Romans, and Druids abandon their
>original tongues and/or contact jargons for the sake of the language of the
>original inhabitants of the island?>
    Having toyed with this idea in the past (but nothing concrete), I'd
envision something on the order of Brithenig (Latinate vocab., Celtic
phonology)-- so Latinate vocab. + Melanesian/Polynesian phonology and
structure.  It would be sad to see all those lovely Latin words reduced to
CVCVCV...., but so be it.  Lots of little monosyllabic particles would be
necessary to replace tenses and cases; perhaps the Greek contingent could
contribute those.  Come to think of it, the Lat. imperfective -ba- would
make a good past tense marker. And note the similarity between PN *aku "I"
and ego:  eko weni pa ?a sula hei tili ano fasa "I  came to this island 3
years ago." Lots of possibilities!


>...if so, have they left any remnants in the language? or, if the Jews,
>Romans, and Druids were able to foist their languages upon the Polynesians,
>what traces would the Polynesians leave in the language of the Waponis?
    I'd suspect, a lot:  bear in mind this would be a major culture shock
for civilized Mediterranean folks-- no metal, maybe not even clay for
pottery depending on the island.  Maybe worst of all, no grapes!

>...what sort of script would the Waponis use?  Roman? Aramaic? Ogham?
>Redjang??  Rongo-Rongo?? Something from each of these scripts (perhaps
>without regard to their original values, like Sequoyah's syllabary)?
>
>...what admixtures might contact with other peoples (Chinese, Malay
pirates,
>other Polynesians, Europeans such as French, Dutch, and British...)
>introduce into this (already complicated) linguistic brew?
If we're dealing with the core PN area (Fiji - Tonga- Samoa) they'd be
pretty much on their own until the 18th Cent. CE.  Of course, if Roman
ship-building could survive......
>
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