Page 204 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

associated with flooding (Margaret Mead’s research on Arapesh people). Teljeur’s research
on mythology concluded that the group of speakers of languages in South Halmahera and
West Papua in the past had formed a cultural area that evolved independently and made
contact in between the speakers of the locals who produced a way of life and different
cultures, so it looked as though there was no connection.

Conclusion: North Maluku and Representation of Melanesia
This study has looked at languages in North Maluku based on research into the languages
and cultures of Melanesia conducted by other researchers. A question can be asked about
this research. Is it possible that the languages of North Maluku which belongs to the non-
Austronesian language group can represent Melanesia which belongs to Austronesian
language group? The Austronesian language family particularly in Papua and Melanesia is
in the Malayo-Polynesian language group namely Eastern Malayo-Polynesian (the others
are Western Malayo-Polynesian and Central Malayo-Polynesian). There are four reasons
that languages of North Maluku should be able to represent the language and culture of
Melanesia although such representation can only be seen in the development of language
and culture that is sporadic in nature.
First, the two language groups are related genetically. In prehistoric times, the Papuan
area was home to non-Austronesian language groups or languages of Eastern Malayo-
Polynesian or Melanesian and then spread westward. It was assumed that the arrival
of speakers of non-Austronesian caused a language shift in West Papua. Most of them
moved to the west and there was a breakaway group which settled on Makian Island. Their
descendants were known as speakers of West Makian. The other group continued their
journey towards North Halmahera and islands in the west.
Second, the languages of North Maluku basically belong to the non-Austronesian
language family which is the same as Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages, often
referred to as the Papua Phylum, but this language group often shows its Austronesian
characteristics here and there. The non-Austronesian feature can be seen for example
in the signpost word which is quite complicated and in the noun while Austronesian
characteristics can be observed in the grammar in constructing a sentence by following
SVO (subject, verb, object) word order pattern, in numbers adopting many borrowed by
forms from the Austronesian group and the absence of gender pronouns.
Third, the relationship between North Maluku and Melanesia can also be seen in culture,
for example in the system of values and the strong religious beliefs which were influenced

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