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Pacific people spread from Taiwan
The University of Auckland-New Zealand ^ | 23 Jan 2009 | University of Auckland

Posted on 01/23/2009 12:08:54 PM PST by BGHater

New research into language evolution suggests most Pacific populations originated in Taiwan around 5,200 years ago.

Scientists at The University of Auckland have used sophisticated computer analyses on vocabulary from 400 Austronesian languages to uncover how the Pacific was settled.

“The Austronesian language family is one of the largest in the world, with 1200 languages spread across the Pacific,” says Professor Russell Gray of the Department of Psychology. “The settlement of the Pacific is one of the most remarkable prehistoric human population expansions. By studying the basic vocabulary from these languages, such as words for animals, simple verbs, colours and numbers, we can trace how these languages evolved. The relationships between these languages give us a detailed history of Pacific settlement.”

“Our results use cutting-edge computational methods derived from evolutionary biology on a large database of language data,” says Dr Alexei Drummond of the Department of Computer Science. “By combining biological methods and linguistic data we are able to investigate big-picture questions about human origins”.

The results, published in the latest issue of the prestigious journal Science, show how the settlement of the Pacific proceeded in a series of expansion pulses and settlement pauses. The Austronesians arose in Taiwan around 5,200 years ago. Before entering the Philippines, they paused for around a thousand years, and then spread rapidly across the 7,000km from the Philippines to Polynesia in less than one thousand years. After settling Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, the Austronesians paused again for another thousand years, before finally spreading further into Polynesia eventually reaching as far as New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island.

“We can link these expansion pulses to the development of new technology, such as better canoes and social techniques to deal with the great distances between islands in Polynesia,” says Research Fellow Simon Greenhill. “Using these new technologies the Austronesians and Polynesians were able to rapidly spread through the Pacific in one of the greatest human migrations ever. This suggests that technological advances have played a major role in the spread of people throughout the world.”

The research was funded by the New Zealand Royal Society Marsden fund. The database of Austronesian basic vocabulary can be accessed at: http://language.psy.auckland.ac.nz/austronesian/

More information on the research can be found at http://language.psy.auckland.ac.nz/austronesian/research.php


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs; language; pacific; taiwan

See also:
Bugs and tongues reveal human march across Pacific

1 posted on 01/23/2009 12:08:56 PM PST by BGHater
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To: SunkenCiv

ping.


2 posted on 01/23/2009 12:09:42 PM PST by BGHater (Tyranny is always better organised than freedom)
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To: BGHater

So from Taiwan, they went all the way to Polynesia, and every place in between— why didn’t they ever go to Australia? Seems kind of hard to miss given all the little tiny islands they populatd instead.


3 posted on 01/23/2009 12:22:22 PM PST by exist
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To: exist

> So from Taiwan, they went all the way to Polynesia, and every place in between— why didn’t they ever go to Australia? Seems kind of hard to miss given all the little tiny islands they populatd instead.

This Taiwan-thing is a theory oft cited here in New Zealand. I don’t believe it, for the exact reasons you’ve said.

I believe their migration went east-west, not the other way ‘round. New Zealand, then, would be amongst the last to be populated — this synchronizes properly with commonsense and what little is known of Maori history.


4 posted on 01/23/2009 12:27:46 PM PST by DieHard the Hunter (Is mise an ceann-cinnidh. Cha ghéill mi do dhuine. Fàg am bealach.)
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To: DieHard the Hunter
I believe their migration went east-west, not the other way ‘round. New Zealand, then, would be amongst the last to be populated — this synchronizes properly with commonsense and what little is known of Maori history.

But even if they went West to East-- that still means they would have populated a bunch of tiny islands but skilled Australia. So...why?

Now I'm going to have to Google this. It's supposed to be my lunch break.

5 posted on 01/23/2009 12:35:43 PM PST by exist
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To: exist

> But even if they went West to East— that still means they would have populated a bunch of tiny islands but skilled Australia. So...why?

I’m not convinced that the Maori did skip Australia: it’s quite possible that they checked ou the East Coast, maybe even traded a bit. But, having found New Zealand, which had plenty of everything they needed (including room to live) why would they colonize Australia, which would have little or nothing of interest to them?

My view is that land-and-food pressure arising from growing populations on small islands drove the migrations. New Zealand had plenty of both.


6 posted on 01/23/2009 12:47:13 PM PST by DieHard the Hunter (Is mise an ceann-cinnidh. Cha ghéill mi do dhuine. Fàg am bealach.)
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To: DieHard the Hunter

Australia already had a population, so that’s why they wouldn’t fight to colonize, especially with all the uninhabited islands.

However, the mitrochondrial studies of the pacific population did show them picking up some Papua New Guinea women whose genetic signature is still throughout the Pacific today.


7 posted on 01/23/2009 2:56:40 PM PST by tbw2 (Freeper sci-fi - "Humanity's Edge" - on amazon.com)
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To: BGHater; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; ...

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Thanks BGHater.
Story of Human Language, Course No. 1600, Taught by John McWhorter, Manhattan Institute, Ph.D., Stanford University
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
 

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8 posted on 01/23/2009 6:56:44 PM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/____________________ Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: BGHater
This get re-affirmed about every 5 years or so. First in story-telling. Then in water-craft capability. Then in DNA/Genetic comparison and now of late by way of linguistics characteristics and similarities.
To add to the mix, there has been consistent excavation of civilizations with developed metallurgy pre-dating metallurgy on the mainland(China) found here on Taiwan. Its not a real popular subject among the academics. They basically follow anything that favors a mainland first 5,000 yrs of 'Chinese Culture' mantra.

(Its 5,000 years alright...too bad its the same year repeated 5,000 times)
9 posted on 01/23/2009 8:10:11 PM PST by Tainan (Where's my FOF Indicator?)
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To: BGHater

very interesting...


10 posted on 01/23/2009 9:12:14 PM PST by tarawa
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To: exist

Looks like somebody chose not to include Australia in the garbage-in slot.


11 posted on 01/24/2009 5:18:44 AM PST by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast
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To: Tainan

Has anyone with a sailing background looked at the prevailing winds and currents in that area of the world. I would suggest that the followed the currents and run before the wind. Could they beat into the wind with their crafts?

5000 years ago the sea levels should be lower since the glaciers would still be melting. ( I am not sure of this.)


12 posted on 01/24/2009 4:52:45 PM PST by Citizen Tom Paine (Swift as the wind; Calmly majestic as a forest; Steady as the mountains.)
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