One of the first problems concerning research in the languages of Oceania is that the number and location of languages there is not precisely known. Another problem is determining just what a language is. Appell's "isoglot" may be a better method of distinguishing different languages than "mutual intelligibility." The Oceanic…

Revised version of a paper which appeared in the University of Hawaii Working Papers in Linguistics, v2 n9 Dec 1970; research supported by a grant from the Tri-Institutional Pacific Program, sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, N.Y. (DD)

This study analyzes the sound correspondences of six Oceanic languages using reconstructed forms from Proto-Oceanic as a frame of reference. Sobei, Wakde, Masimasi, Anus, Bojgo, and Tarpia provide the cognates used in the analysis. Consonants and vowels are analyzed, and sound correspondences are examined for regularity of development and possible…

The Pacific area is generally acknowledged to manifest great linguistic diversity. Such diversity is generally assumed to be dysfunctional, an obstacle to efficient functioning of society. Such diversity must, however, have its functions at least in the circumstances in which it arose. It is also generally assumed that such diversity is the result…