FWD: Inquiry: Use of term "Negrito" for Austronesian & Southeast Asian languages (fwd)

[Yuphaphann Hoonchamlong]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2001 23:27:13 +0700
From: Gerard Diffloth <gdiffloth at hotmail.com>
To: yui at tu.ac.th
Subject: Re: FWD: Inquiry: Use of term "Negrito" for Austronesian &
    Southeast Asian languages


Dear friend,

To my knowledge, the term "negrito", when used in the context of the
Malay Peninsula, refers to the physical appearance, not to the
language(s) of some of the forest-dwellers.

The languages, and the ethnic groups, have often been referred to as
"Semang" in the past, for example in the main reference work by Skeat and
Blagden (1906 ?). This term is rather vague and is not used any more in
the linguistic literature to refer to any specific language, or should
not be.

Linguistically, there are several languages spoken by people with negrito
features in their physionomy, for example: Batek, Jahai, Menri', Kensiw,
Mani', Ten-en, Lanoh, Semnam.

 Most of these languages, except the last two, belong historically to the
North-Aslian sub-branch of the Aslian branch of the Mon-Khmer family.
Lanoh and Semnam belong to a different sub-branch of Aslian called the
the Senoic sub-branch. In addition, there are Temiar speakers (Senoic
sub-branch) with "negrito" features, and speakers of  Che' Wong ( North
Aslian sub-branch), who do not have such features.

So, the match between negrito features and language historical grouping
is not a very good one. The term "negrito" is often used rather vaguely,
based on visual impressions. I don't know what geneticists have to say on
the subject, and would be interested in finding out.

>From: Yuphaphann Hoonchamlong
>To: sealang-l at nectec.or.th
>Subject: FWD: Inquiry: Use of term "Negrito" for Austronesian &
Southeast Asian languages
>Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2001 09:51:19 +0700
>
> >===== Original Message From Adelwisa A Weller =====
>Please respond if you are familiar with this topic.
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2001 15:39:35 -0400
>From: Scott McGinnis
>To: councilnews-list at Glue.umd.edu
>Subject: Inquiry: Use of term "Negrito" for Austronesian & Southeast
Asian
> languages
>
>For about two centuries, the term 'Negrito' has been used in English
>as an (apparently vague) ethnic label for various peoples of southeast
>Asia. But I am interested in the use of this term as a language name.
>
>Voegelin and Voegelin, in their 1977 survey of the world's languages,
>report 'Negrito' as an alternative name for certain Austronesian
>languages of the Philippines. This use is repeated in the 1996
>edition of the Ethnologue volume. But I have very occasionally
>encountered this term applied as a name to various unspecified
>languages of the region.
>
>So:
>
>Is the label 'Negrito' in respectable use among specialists today as a
>label for any language or languages at all?
>
>If so, for which language or languages?
>
>In any case, can anybody shed any light on the former use of this term
>as a language name?
>
>And can anybody cite any examples of the earlier use of this term as a
>language name?
>
>Please reply to me directly, and I'll post a summary to the list.
>
>
>Larry Trask
>COGS
>University of Sussex
>Brighton BN1 9QH
>UK
>
>larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk <?xml:namespace prefix = mailto />
>
>Tel: (01273)-678693 (from UK); +44-1273-678693 (from abroad)
>Fax: (01273)-671320 (from UK); +44-1273-671320 (from abroad
>
>*******************************
>Yuphaphann Hoonchamlong | yui at tu.ac.th
>Department of Linguistics | http://www.tu.ac.th/~yui/
>Thammasat University | Thai Language Audio Resource Center:
>Bangkok, Thailand 10200 | http://thaiarc.tu.ac.th
>

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