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Part of
Austronesian Undressed: How and why languages become isolating
Edited by David Gil and Antoinette Schapper
[Typological Studies in Language 129] 2020
► pp. 339–368

Chapter 7
From Lamaholot to Alorese

Morphological loss in adult language contact

| Leiden University
Alorese is a prime example of a morphologically isolating language. This paper traces the process of morphological simplification it has undergone by addressing the following questions: (i) What was the morphological profile of its ancestor, pre-Alorese? (ii) When did Alorese start to lose its morphology? (iii) Which factors caused this loss? By comparing the morphological profile of current Alorese with its sister language, Lewoingu-Lamaholot, I conclude that the morphology of pre-Alorese was at least as complex as current Lewoingu-Lamaholot. Pre-Alorese underwent a process of drastic and swift morphological loss after its speakers migrated to Pantar island around 1300 AD. Pre-Alorese must have had a significant proportion of adult second language speakers who acquired it imperfectly, thus causing its morphology to be lost. Thus, this is a good example of morphological simplification due to imperfect adult learning in a small-scale language variety.
Keywords: morphological loss, adult language contact, Alorese, Lamaholot, morphological reconstruction
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The morphological profile of pre-Alorese
    • 2.1Lewoingu-Lamaholot and Alorese inflectional morphology
      • 2.1.1Marking of arguments in Lewoingu-Lamaholot
      • 2.1.2Marking of possessives in Lewoingu-Lamaholot
      • 2.1.3Marking of arguments and possessors in Alorese
    • 2.2Lewoingu-Lamaholot and Alorese derivational morphology
      • Prefix bə(C)-
      • Prefix pə-
      • Prefix kə-
      • Infix -ən-
      • Prefix mən-
      • Prefix gə(C)-
      • Consonant replacement
    • 2.3Summary: The morphology of pre-Alorese
  • 3.When, why, and how pre-Alorese became isolating
    • 3.1Dating the migration of pre-Alorese to Pantar Island
    • 3.2Alorese as a language of trade and interethnic communication
    • 3.3Alorese was acquired by adult speakers
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 21 October 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.129.07kla
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