Some Remarks on Sagart's New Evidence for a Numeral-Based Phylogeny of Austronesian

Abstract:This paper presents a critical evaluation of a recent update to Sagart's "numeral-based phylogeny" of Austronesian languages. The update takes the form of new evidence, including new etymologies and reconstructions of words meaning 'six' and 'ten' which differ from conventional reconstructions, and updated and expanded evidence for "Southern Austronesian," a subgroup that contains Kra-Dai and Malayo-Polynesian. This paper argues that Sagart's new evidence is unconvincing and does not provide additional support for the numeral-based phylogeny. Rather, this paper details shortcomings in new etymologies for 'six' and 'ten', as well as issues in the comparisons made between Kra-Dai and Malayo-Polynesian. It is concluded that conventional subgrouping proposals remain superior to the numeral-based phylogeny despite recent updates.