The electronic Handbook for Sumatran Linguistics (e-HSL) is intended as an ambitious, long-term project with the goal of being an online repository for open-research on all topics related to the languages and linguistics of the Sumatran language family. The first step in the project is the cataloging and transcription of all available lexical resources for the Sumatran languages and cognate sets (both inherited and loan) shared between them; the current state of this site reflects that goal. The "Cognate Sets" page displays all cognate sets currently identified among two or more languages of the family. Each selectable language level on that page reflects the distribution of the cognate set; thus, a set referenced at the "Proto-Sumatran" tier may be a true inheritance at the level of Proto-Sumatran or simply a loan found among multiple primary branches of the Sumatran subgroup. More information regarding each cognate set can be found by clicking on the "reconstructed" (or loan) form of the cognate set in question. This will bring the user to a page that lists all cataloged evidence for the cognate set in question and shows in a map the geographic distribution of languages evidencing the form. Much work still remains to be done, not only in the research and analysis itself, but also in making the data more usable and clearly understandable.
Unless cited otherwise, all research presented here is the original work of the primary author. Please see the list of citations on the "Sources" page in order to find information regarding a specific language. All reference to PMP reconstructions - apart from a few explicitly stated - can be found in Blust, Trussel, & Smith's ongoing The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary.