Reconstructions

Note

Also Manggarai asé ‘younger sibling of the same sex’; friend’, Nali nali ‘sibling of the same sex’, Lau sāsi ( = sa asiʔ) ‘younger sibling of the same sex’. Dempwolff (1934-38) reconstructed doublets *a(ŋ)ji ‘sibling, consanguine (generally younger)’ and *qa(ŋ)ji ‘sibling, consanguine (generally of the opposite sex)’. The far richer evidence now available supports a trisyllabic etymon, but recurrent, mutually corroboratory irregularities leave open the possibility that we should reconstruct both *Suaji and *Saji. As evidence for the latter, disyllabic variant, we can cite Proto-Rukai *agi, Ifugaw agí, Balangaw agí, Kallahan (Kayapa) agí, Pangasinan agí, Sambal (Botolan) ali, Kalamian Tagbanwa ariʔ, ATA hari, Manobo (Western Bukidnon) hazi, Maranao ari and various forms in western Indonesia (some of which -- like Malay adé-k -- can regularly reflect either variant). The presence of *-u- is, however, clearly supported by all Formosan reflexes noted to date apart from Proto-Rukai *agi, by many reflexes in the northern Philippines, by Tunjung gari-n, by Mentawai bagi, and by a number of reflexes in CMP languages.

Because no Formosan reflex is known to make us of a relative sex distinction, PAn *Suaji must be reconstructed with the meaning ‘younger sibling’. However, agreement between at least Manobo (Ata), Tboli and Toba Batak suggest that PMP *huaji meant ‘younger sibling of the same sex’. It is clear that PMP had four sibling terms: *betaw ‘sister’ (man speaking)’, *ñaRa ‘brother (woman speaking)’, *huaji and *kaka. Whether a relative sex distinction was or was not made in the terms *huaji and *kaka, there can be no doubt that the former referred to younger and the latter to elder siblings. In both Ngaju Dayak and Southern Toraja relative sex is used in the definition of cross-sibling terms, yet reflexes of *huaji and *kaka evidently apply to siblings of either sex regardless of sex of speaker.

It is possible that PMP possessed a similar system, and that the more specific references to younger or elder siblings of the same sex evolved independently in WMP and CEMP languages as a result of a tendency to divide up semantic space into mutually exclusive categories. I find this scenario less convincing than the hypothesis that PMP *kaka and *huaji contained a relative sex component which became otiose and disappeared in those societies that lost descent groups (with which relative sex has an established positive correlation cross-culturally). In addition to its literal sibling referents both PAn *Suaji and PMP *huaji evidently referred to relatives in general, a fact noted as early as 1933 by F.A.E. van Wouden, who proposed an explanation for it (van Wouden 1968 [1935]:120). Finally, it appears likely from agreements in such widely scattered languages as Karo Batak, Balinese, Sasak and Gedaged that PMP *huaji could refer in certain contexts to the afterbirth or placenta (also cp. Numfor naʔik ‘sibling of the same sex; afterbirth, placenta’, where the same semantic association is found with a morpheme that does not reflect *huaji).