Reconstructions

Note

PWMP *bakaka and *binti, both of which evidently referred to kingfishers, may have been distinct species, or later innovations. Chamorro normally reflects PMP *e (shwa) as u in open syllables and o in closed syllables, but fronts this vowel after *iC , as in *qaninuŋ > anineŋ ‘shadow’, *linduŋ > liheŋ ‘shelter’, or *nipen > nifen ‘tooth’, thus paralleling the synchronic alternations in stem vowels seen after the definite article i, as in gumaɁ ‘house’ : i gimaɁ ‘the house’. The Oceanic part of this comparison was first proposed (in a more extended form) by Clark (2011:336-337), who noted some forms point to POc *siko and others to *jiko.