Diachronic Toponomastics and Language Reconstruction in South-East Asia According to an Experimental Convergent Methodology: Abui as a Case-Study
Diachronic toponomastics and language reconstruction in South-east Asia according to an experimental convergent methodology: Abui as a case-study. The aim of this paper is to propose and to provide a new experimental methodology in the study of endangered and/or undocumented languages starting from...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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2016
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/80488 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/40533 http://geografie.uvt.ro/?page_id=9538 |
| _version_ | 1811686074915749888 |
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| author | Perono Cacciafoco, Francesco Cavallaro, Francesco Kratochvil, Frantisek |
| author2 | School of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| author_facet | School of Humanities and Social Sciences Perono Cacciafoco, Francesco Cavallaro, Francesco Kratochvil, Frantisek |
| author_sort | Perono Cacciafoco, Francesco |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Diachronic toponomastics and language reconstruction in South-east Asia according to an experimental convergent methodology: Abui as a case-study. The aim of this paper is to propose and to provide a new experimental methodology in the study of endangered and/or undocumented languages starting from toponymy and applying to this field innovative diachronic toponomastics criteria partly adopted from Indo-European linguistics. This new convergent methodology provides an all-embracing analysis of toponyms, hydronyms, and oronyms of a specific area not only through the lens of ‘pure’ etymology and historical phonetics, but also through a systematic and extensive examination of collected data by other scientific disciplines, such as historical geography, landscape archaeology, geo-archaeology, analytical archaeology, historical cartography, historical topography, paleo-anthropology, genetics, and historical semantics. This convergent and experimental application of diachronic toponomastics criteria to the toponymy of endangered and/or undocumented languages allows for the reconstruction not only of the ‘remote stratigraphy’ of place names, hydronyms, and oronyms, but also of the speakers’ interpretation and description of the environment, of their visual representation of the landscape and territory, and of their (spiritual and pragmatic) relationships with the geographical space. This methodology allows us to highlight the ancient origins of the languages under investigation and, by crossing linguistic data with data from other disciplines, to go back in time maybe until the prehistory of a population and, moreover, of a culture and/or a civilization. This method also provides valuable information about people’s movements and settlement dynamics over time. The first part of the paper outlines a theoretical description of the methodology; the second part provides two analytical (and systemic) examples of the application of this method from / on Abui (a language belonging to the Alor-Pantar family of Papuan languages spoken on the islands of the Alor archipelago near Timor, in Southern Indonesia), in order to set and to propose an initial pattern related to this experimental hermeneutic and epistemological approach. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T04:54:39Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/80488 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T04:54:39Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/804882021-12-20T04:00:08Z Diachronic Toponomastics and Language Reconstruction in South-East Asia According to an Experimental Convergent Methodology: Abui as a Case-Study Perono Cacciafoco, Francesco Cavallaro, Francesco Kratochvil, Frantisek School of Humanities and Social Sciences toponomastics Abui experimental convergent methodology Diachronic toponomastics and language reconstruction in South-east Asia according to an experimental convergent methodology: Abui as a case-study. The aim of this paper is to propose and to provide a new experimental methodology in the study of endangered and/or undocumented languages starting from toponymy and applying to this field innovative diachronic toponomastics criteria partly adopted from Indo-European linguistics. This new convergent methodology provides an all-embracing analysis of toponyms, hydronyms, and oronyms of a specific area not only through the lens of ‘pure’ etymology and historical phonetics, but also through a systematic and extensive examination of collected data by other scientific disciplines, such as historical geography, landscape archaeology, geo-archaeology, analytical archaeology, historical cartography, historical topography, paleo-anthropology, genetics, and historical semantics. This convergent and experimental application of diachronic toponomastics criteria to the toponymy of endangered and/or undocumented languages allows for the reconstruction not only of the ‘remote stratigraphy’ of place names, hydronyms, and oronyms, but also of the speakers’ interpretation and description of the environment, of their visual representation of the landscape and territory, and of their (spiritual and pragmatic) relationships with the geographical space. This methodology allows us to highlight the ancient origins of the languages under investigation and, by crossing linguistic data with data from other disciplines, to go back in time maybe until the prehistory of a population and, moreover, of a culture and/or a civilization. This method also provides valuable information about people’s movements and settlement dynamics over time. The first part of the paper outlines a theoretical description of the methodology; the second part provides two analytical (and systemic) examples of the application of this method from / on Abui (a language belonging to the Alor-Pantar family of Papuan languages spoken on the islands of the Alor archipelago near Timor, in Southern Indonesia), in order to set and to propose an initial pattern related to this experimental hermeneutic and epistemological approach. Published version 2016-05-12T06:58:01Z 2019-12-06T13:50:40Z 2016-05-12T06:58:01Z 2019-12-06T13:50:40Z 2015 2015 Journal Article Perono Cacciafoco, F., Cavallaro, F., & Kratochvil, F. (2015). Diachronic Toponomastics and Language Reconstruction in South-East Asia According to an Experimental Convergent Methodology: Abui as a Case-Study. Review of Historical Geography and Toponomastics, 10(19-20), 29-47. 1842-8479 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/80488 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/40533 http://geografie.uvt.ro/?page_id=9538 190142 en Review of Historical Geography and Toponomastics This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/). 20 p. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | toponomastics Abui experimental convergent methodology Perono Cacciafoco, Francesco Cavallaro, Francesco Kratochvil, Frantisek Diachronic Toponomastics and Language Reconstruction in South-East Asia According to an Experimental Convergent Methodology: Abui as a Case-Study |
| title | Diachronic Toponomastics and Language Reconstruction in South-East Asia According to an Experimental Convergent Methodology: Abui as a Case-Study |
| title_full | Diachronic Toponomastics and Language Reconstruction in South-East Asia According to an Experimental Convergent Methodology: Abui as a Case-Study |
| title_fullStr | Diachronic Toponomastics and Language Reconstruction in South-East Asia According to an Experimental Convergent Methodology: Abui as a Case-Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Diachronic Toponomastics and Language Reconstruction in South-East Asia According to an Experimental Convergent Methodology: Abui as a Case-Study |
| title_short | Diachronic Toponomastics and Language Reconstruction in South-East Asia According to an Experimental Convergent Methodology: Abui as a Case-Study |
| title_sort | diachronic toponomastics and language reconstruction in south east asia according to an experimental convergent methodology abui as a case study |
| topic | toponomastics Abui experimental convergent methodology |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/80488 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/40533 http://geografie.uvt.ro/?page_id=9538 |
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