Comparative research on Reefs-Santa Cruz and why it matters for theories of language change, grammatical relations and the history of Oceanic

In this talk, we will present ongoing research on the Reefs-Santa Cruz (RSC) language group, and outline why it is significant for historical and typological research on Oceanic languages. RSC belongs to a subgroup that stems from a very early migration from the Proto Oceanic homeland, and the languages in it shows significant internal variation. In particular, they can shed light on the transition from the so-called symmetrical voice system found in languages in the western Austronesian area to the system of grammaticalised transitivity and accusative alignment that characterises most Oceanic languages. While Äiwoo (Reefs) retains a simplified version of a symmetrical voice system, and so can be seen as a transitional language with a symmetrical voice system and Oceanic morphology, the Santa Cruz languages appear to retain certain voice-like characteristics in otherwise largely transitivity-based systems. Understanding the historical processes that have led to this situation may shed light on processes that shape systems of clausal organisation and changes from one type of system to another more generally.