ABSTRACT
Austronesian is the world’s largest and most widely distributed language phylum with nine of its ten subfamilies (Puyuma, Paiwan, Ami, Bunun, Saisiat, Atayal, Rukai, Tsou and Malayo-Polynesian) found in Taiwanese aboriginal populations (Blust 1999). It is possible that the expansion of the tenth family in Asia-Oceania is associated with the spread of agriculture during the 4th to 6th millennia bc (Diamond and Bellwood 2003). Previous studies based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome have failed to demonstrate equally direct evidence for genetic continuity of aboriginal Taiwanese maternal and paternal lineages in populations of Near and Remote Oceania (Kayser et al. 2000; Oppenheimer and Richards 2001; Underhill et al. 2001). Although the mtDNA D-loop precursor haplotype (nps 16,189-16,217-16,261) of the Polynesian motif (nps 16,189-16,217-16,261-16,247) in haplogroup B4 has been found in Taiwanese, it is likely of very ancient origin. The equal presence of B4 in island and mainland Asian populations has not allowed a definite phylogenetic inference that maternal Polynesian ancestry can be related specifically back to Taiwanese aboriginals (Oppenheimer and Richards 2001). The presence in Polynesians of genetic lineages specific to Melanesian populations that are absent in Taiwan has become the basis for the ‘slow boat’ model according to which the Polynesian migration could be explained as an expansion from Melanesia without any direct thread leading back to Taiwan (Hurles et al. 2003).
