Entry record from Remijsen (2001a): Biga
yes
• dog.
Note: Blust (ms.) notes that reflexes of PAN */asu/ ‘dog’ are abundant in the Western and Central Malayo-Polynesian, but absent in the SHWNG and Oceanic languages. Interestingly, the words for ‘dog’ in Biga and Misool Ma ya (both /yes/) may be reflexes of the PAN root for this concept (/a-/ > /ya-/ is regular [Blust 1978]). The fact that this form is limited to languages of Misool suggests that it may well be loan from a Central Malayo-Polynesian language.