Possible Non-Austronesian Lexical Elements in Philippine Negrito Languages

Abstract

The languages spoken by Philippine peoples of a Negrito physical type appear to be Austronesian languages of the sort generally found in the Philippines. However, this paper presents a significant body of unique terms gleaned from their vocabularies that may constitute evidence for a non-Austronesian substratum in these languages. Alternative explanations are considered, but the one opted for hypothesizes an early pidgin or trade language, subsequently creolized, that was developed by the Negritos to facilitate communication with in-migrating Austronesians, and later decreolized to such an extent that it came to bear close resemblance to nearby Austronesian languages.