Lexical Evidence in Austronesian for an Austroasiatic presence in Borneo

Abstract

Abstract: Divergence and diversity at the level of phonology and lexicon in many of the Austronesian languages of Borneo are widely recognized and well studied. However, the source of this divergence is debated. In this paper, lexical items in the languages of Borneo which lack secure Austronesian etymologies are the object of study. Some of these words show potential semantic and phonological matches with Austroasiatic forms, suggesting a possible early period of in situ contact between Austronesian speakers and speakers of Mon-Khmer languages on the island of Borneo.