Languages Of Papua Within Languages Of

A Broader Melanesian Perspective

Inyo Yos Fernandez

Since the first time the Austronesian language family named by Wilhelm Schmidt (1899), it was devided into four subgroups of languages which comprised: Indonesia, Polynesia, Mikronesia and Melanesia. The oppinion of this productive scholar in the languages and cultures studies of  the South-East Asia and Pacific Areas dimed the term of Malayo-Polynesian language family which was prior used to label the famous name gave by his predecessor Wilhelm Von Humboldt (Anceaux, 1965; Kaswanti, 1994).    

The Melanesian subgroup of languages in it’s development studies differentiated  into two groups i.e. the one that is categorized as Austro-Melanesia (Leenhardt, 1946).  This  group of Melanesian is  included into Austro-Melanesian subgroup of cognate languages. Another one is grouped into Non-Austro-Melanesian which is labelled as Melano-Papua  group (non AN). 

The Austro-Melanesian languages as grouped by Blust (1974) included into the bipartyt subgroups of the East AN, i.e. the South Halmahera and West Papua languages in one part, and Oceanic languages in the Pacific Ocean in another part. Meanwhile, the languages of North Halmahera were grouped among other into one group of the Melano-Papua languages of Nono AN languages by Van der Veen (1915). A part of the Alor-Pantar languages of the same Non AN  languages group in Nusa Tenggara Timur Province which was labelled as Timor-Alor subgroup as explained  by  Greenberg (2005). These two groups of Non AN languages are named by linguists as West Papuan Phylum (Cowan, 1960, Stokhof, 1975). Some other linguists labelled also the same group of these languages as West Trans New Guinea Phylum (Voorhoeve, 1975).

As far as some researches towards the Austro-Melanesian languages was carried out in the area of North Papua for example in the surrounding islands like Biak and Numfor as reported by Kanaikaimu (2000), and some cognate languages in the Jayapura Bay reported  by Suharyanto (2009), some findings clarified that the AN influences between this group of languages are not so significant as the comparative method were applied by the qualitative approaches by putting both the technic of inductive or deductive reconstructions.

Another research findings about a group of Melano-Papuan (Non AN) languages recently reported by (Mandala, 2010) proofed same reports likewise, that languages of Alor-Timor group named as West Papuan Phylum in the tip edge of Timor Leste area, has the historical relationship with the Oirata language in Kisar island at the South-West Maluku, a prototype of another Melano-Papuan language group that provide a possibility to get their proto language by way of inductive and deductive reconstruction to attain their original attested language. Another research of nearly the same type of Alor-Timor group of languages (i.e. Buna and Kemak), in the transition area of Indonesia (Timor-Belu District) border and in the east area of Timor Leste, clarified the same findings by (Fernandez, 2007).

From the real facts accordingly, the Melano-Papuan languages inwardly and outwardly of are possible to investigate their historical relationship, although there are only in limited groups and they have no reconstructed forms of the Melanesian proto language, as the AN language has. The characteristic of Melano-Papuan languages are found also in the transition era of East Indonesia between the area of West and East Austronesian subgroups of languages.

Key words: Melanesian group of languages, Alor-Timor group of language, Austronesian language family, Austro-Melanesian languages group, Melano-Papuan group.