Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Innovative Research Across Disciplines (ICIRAD 2017)

A Collaboration Between Linguistics and Genetics: Tracing the Bajo Diaspora History in Eastern Indonesia

Authors
Philippe Grang,
Corresponding Author
Philippe Grang,
Available Online August 2017.
DOI
10.2991/icirad-17.2017.50How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Sama-Bajau, Bajo, Sama-Bajau language, sea nomads, maritime diaspora, Bugis, Sulu Archipelago
Abstract

This paper aims at comparing and discussing recent findings from human genetics (genomics) and linguistics, regarding the long-lasting question of the Sama-Bajau / Bajo diaspora in Eastern Indonesia, Sulu archipelago (South Philippines) and Sabah (Malaysia). The Bajo are a maritime-oriented people, and some of them were sea nomads until the 1970s. They scattered over this wide zone centuries ago, they forgot their territory of origin, and the original Sama-Bajau language locally diversified in a dozen of languages or dialects. If we consider the common patterns of their origin myths, it seems that they were forced to flee their homeland by a foreign power. Genomics shows early admixtures with the Bugis (South Sulawesi) and the dating of their diaspora broadly matches with the linguistic data. The unidentified political event that drove them out their homeland probably happened at the end of the 11th century. If genetics and linguistics data correspond, these data are strongly backed. However, we came upon a serious discrepancy about the location of the Sama-Bajau homeland: geneticists assert it was South Sulawesi, while linguists believe it was South Kalimantan, because SB languages are related to South Barito cluster more than to any other language in Southeast Asia.

Copyright
© 2017, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Innovative Research Across Disciplines (ICIRAD 2017)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
August 2017
ISBN
10.2991/icirad-17.2017.50
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/icirad-17.2017.50How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2017, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Cite this article

TY  - CONF
AU  - Philippe Grang,
PY  - 2017/08
DA  - 2017/08
TI  - A Collaboration Between Linguistics and Genetics: Tracing the Bajo Diaspora History in Eastern Indonesia
BT  - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Innovative Research Across Disciplines (ICIRAD 2017)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 269
EP  - 276
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/icirad-17.2017.50
DO  - 10.2991/icirad-17.2017.50
ID  - Grang,2017/08
ER  -