This book documents an understudied phenomenon in Austronesian languages namely the existence
of recurrent submorphemic sound-meaning associations of the general form -CVC. It fills a
critical gap in scholarship on these languages by bringing together a large body of data in one
place and by discussing some of the theoretical issues that arise in analyzing this data.
Following an introduction which presents the topic it includes a critical review of the
relevant literature over the past century and discussions of the following: 1. problems in
finding the root (the needle in the haystack problem) 2. root ambiguity 3. controls on chance
as an interfering factor 4. unrecognized morphology as a possible factor in duplicating
evidence 5. the shape structure of the root 6. referents of roots 7. the origin of roots 8.
the problem of distinguishing false cognates produced by convergence in root-bearing morphemes
from legitimate comparisons resulting from divergent descent and 9. the problem of explaining
how submorphemes are transmitted across generations of speakers independently of the morphemes
that host them. The remainder of the book consists of a list of sources for the 197 languages
from which data is drawn followed by the roots with supporting evidence a short appendix and
references.
