A Micronesian Merger Mystery: The Fate of Proto-Oceanic *R

Abstract: Proto-Oceanic *R was irregularly lost or merged with another liquid in several branches of Oceanic. In Southern Oceanic, the likelihood of *R loss increases from north to south. This squib examines the merger and loss of *R in Micronesian, where the pattern is most similar to the southernmost languages of North Central Vanuatu. I discuss scenarios of lexical diffusion that could have led to the observed state of affairs, proposing an interpretation where structured variation along the hypo/hyperarticulation continuum is inherited from a proto-language, resulting in parallel developments in distant branches.