Journal: Agent-Linguistic Cycle 13 — Pre-1521 Term-Risk Assessment for Timeline Labels

Term-Risk Register: Pre-1521 Layer

Problem: English-language scholarship uses “kingdom” (Scott), “polity” (Junker), and “chiefdom” (Junker’s analytical framework) interchangeably for pre-1521 Philippine political units. These carry very different institutional implications.
Source languages: Malay (kerajaan), Spanish (reino/pueblo), and English analytical categories do not map cleanly.
Timeline impact: Using “kingdom” for TL-004 (Tondo) implies state-level organization; “chiefdom” implies a different scale.
Recommendation: Use neutral “polity” as default label. Fork into “state-like” and “chiefdom-like” branches when institutional scale claims are made.

Problem: The Chinese characters for Ma-i have been mapped to multiple locations (Mindoro, Manila Bay, Bay of Manila). The phonetic reconstruction is uncertain.
Timeline impact: If Ma-i = Mindoro, the trade network centers on western Luzon. If Ma-i = Manila area, Tondo’s role is elevated.
Recommendation: Mark geographic identification as a contested fork. Do not collapse.

Problem: The LCI is written in Old Malay with Kawi script, but the population of the Tondo-Laguna corridor likely spoke an ancestral Tagalog variety. The relationship between the documentary language and the spoken language is unclear.
Timeline impact: Claims about “Malay influence” vs. “local administration using a prestige register” lead to different institutional interpretations.
Source: Dawe (2021) on translingualism; Clavé & Griffiths (2022) on linguistic analysis.
Recommendation: Fork into “prestige-register model” (local elites using Old Malay for legal transactions) and “Malay-institutional model” (Malay political framework operating in the region).

Problem: Sulu tarsila use Arabic-derived terms (sultan, datu, pangiran) that may be anachronistic for the founding period.
Timeline impact: If terms were adopted later and retroactively applied, the institutional character of the founding era is different from what the tarsila text implies.
Recommendation: Tag tarsila-derived labels with anachronism-risk flag.

Four high-impact term-risk items affect the pre-1521 layer. Each requires a forked treatment in the timeline rather than a single-label resolution.