The Terminologies of the Papuan Tip Cluster of Languages in Comparative Austronesian Perspective

This paper carries forward the comparative study of patterning in Austronesian relationship terminologies. Its strategic focus is on a specific region with societies whose languages are classified as belonging to the Papuan Tip Cluster. The paper examines the defining patterning of ten separate but related terminologies, tracing the distribution of these patterns from their likely area of origin within the Austronesian‐speaking world. The paper compares these terminologies according to a matrix of features that situates these terminologies within a wider Oceanic network. As a whole, it presents a methodology of possible relevance for significant categorical comparison of all Austronesian relationship terminologies.