Another Look at the Marking of Plural Personal Noun Constructions in Austronesian Languages

Abstract

In a recent note in this journal, Robert Blust, using data from Philippine and Formosan languages, proposes a functional difference for Proto-Austronesian between the forms of genitive common noun phrase markers, such that PAN *nu marked 'genitive of common nouns', while PAN *na marked 'genitive of plural personal nouns'. This paper examines the Philippine and Formosan evidence for these reconstructions and concludes that the evidence provided is the result of convergent development in the languages cited, and cannot be considered evidence for the proposed reconstructions. Alternate reconstructions that better account for the Philippine evidence are proposed.