Page 160 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

(d) Animals
Austronesian Word English Translation Borrowed in Form By Non-Austronesian Languages
BINATANG animal [binatang] Lamma Kalondama, Kelon,
Woisika
[binatan] Lamma Tubal
[binanta] Blagar, Kui, Tanglapui, Kolana,
Kabola
[nafetang] Kabola
KERBAU buffalo [karfao] Abui
SAPI cow [sapi] Abui
KIJANG deer [menjana] Moi
KUDA horse [kuda] Abui
AYAM chicken [ayam] Tanah Merah, Sarmi

There are six loan words in the semantid field of animals; binatang ‘animal’, kerbau
‘buffalo’, sapi ‘cow’, kijang ‘deer’, kuda ‘horse’, and ayam ‘chicken’. The lexical variants
for the loan of binatang are binatang, binatan, binanta, and nafetang. The loan for the
Austronesian word for ‘deer’ kijang appears in the Moi language as menjana, and most
likely originated in the synonym for ‘deer’ ‘menjangan’. Austronesians brought with them
farming techniques and a number of animals that were not found in the Non-Austronesian
areas. It is likely that the loans occurred through contact situations where the animals
were traded.
The numeral semantic field has the most loanwords borrowed by Non-Austronesian
languages. Many Non-Austronesian languages are characterized by reduced numeral
systems. The Hindu-Arabic number system replaced the Roman numeral system in
Europe as it was more efficient at performing mathematical calculations in daily life. The
introduction of this numeral system for Non-Austronesian communities in the context
of trading or bartering would have had similar advantages and this may explain why the
borrowing of numerals is so widespread.

160 Chapter 3

MELANESIA BOOK FA LAYOUT 051216.indd 160 2/10/17 2:10 PM