Seminar | Tracing the Asian roots of the Malagasy | Alexander Adelaar

Tracing the Asian roots of the Malagasy: Combining seemingly contradictory evidence from various disciplines

In this talk I discuss the Indonesian origins of the people of Madagascar. Scholars from various disciplines have reached seemingly contradictory conclusions about the place where these people come from.                     

Linguistic evidence shows that Malagasy is a language from southern Borneo, which at an early stage (before the 8th century CE) underwent lexical influence from Sumatran Malay, Banjar Malay, Javanese and South Sulawesi languages.                                                  

According to human genetics, the Asian DNA of the Malagasy shows direct relationships with three very different Austronesian ethnic categories depending on the type of DNA investigated. Currently, human genetic research involves the use of three types of chromosomes, each signalling a different affiliation between the Malagasy and other Austronesian speakers: these types are y-chromosome (male) DNA, (2) mitochondrial (female) DNA, and (3) autosomal DNA. The latter consists of all DNA chromosome varieties other than the gender-affiliated mitochondrial and y-chromosome DNA. The Malagasy have (part of) their y-chromosome DNA in common with the Ma’anyan people, who live along the Barito river in southern Borneo; (2) they have their mitochondrial DNA in common with eastern Indonesians; (3) they have their autosomal DNA in common with the citizens of Banjarmasin, the metropole in southern Borneo. The people of Banjarmasin currently speak Banjar Malay; they identify as Malays (and are nowadays strongly affiliated with Islam).

From the perspective of traditional literature, there are very strong parallels between the Hikayat Banjar (Chronicles of the court of Banjarmasin) and the Malagasy epic of Ibonia, the cultural hero of the Merina and various other ethnic groups in Madagascar.

Anthropologically, there is a striking mismatch between the basic kinship system of the Maanyan and the kinship systems of the Malagasy.     

I will address the various conclusions summarised above and will try to reconcile the seemingly contradictory evidence on which they are based. An important part of my talk will evolve around sibling terms from Proto Malayo-Polynesian, Malagasy, and Sumbanese.

Speaker

Dr. Alexander Adelaar is a Principal Fellow in the Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne and a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Asian Studies, Palacký University (Olomouc). He is a Fellow of the Academy of Humanities Australia and associated member of the Académie Malgache. His research is on the structure and history of Austronesian languages, with emphasis on varieties of Malay and the languages of Borneo, Madagascar and Taiwan. Dr. Adelaar is the author of Proto Malayic (Pacific Linguistics, 1992), Salako or Badameà: Sketch grammar, texts and lexicon of a Kanayatn dialect of West Borneo (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2005), and Siraya: Retrieving the phonology, grammar and lexicon of a dormant Formosan language (De Gruyter Mouton, 2011). He is also co-editor of The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar (Routledge, 2005) and of the Guide to the Malayo-Polynesian languages (Oxford University Press 2024).

Moderator

Tom Hoogervorst is a senior researcher at KITLV and an adjunct professor at the Department of Indonesian at the State University of Malang. As a historical linguist, Tom has focused on language contact in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, viewing the past through the lens of language.

Format, date, time & venue

This seminar is a hybrid event and will be held in room 1.30 at KITLV (Herta Mohr Building, Witte Singel 27A, 2311 BG Leiden) and online via Zoom, on Wednesday 16 October from 15.30-17.00 PM (CET).

Registration

1. On location: if you want to join this seminar on location, please register via: [email protected].

2. Online: if you wish to join this webinar online, please register here.