Austronesian Languages

I

Introduction

Austronesian Languages, (formerly also referred to as Malayo-Polynesian languages), one of the world's largest language families, both in terms of numbers of languages—exceeding 1,200—and geographical spread—from Madagascar to Easter Island and Hawaii. The languages of Australia (Aboriginal languages) and most of New Guinea (Papuan languages), however, are not part of this family.

II

Classification

The Austronesian languages are divided into two branches: Malayo-Polynesian (1,239 languages) and Formosan (23 languages). The Formosan languages are the Aboriginal languages of Taiwan (seven of which are now extinct) and include Amis, Tsou, and Paiwan. By far the largest sub-group, the Malayo-Polynesian languages are further split into three branches: Central-Eastern, Western Malayo-Polynesian, and two Unclassified languages. Within the Central-Eastern branch are: Central Malayo-Polynesian languages, including many languages spoken in Indonesia and Timor; and Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages, which includes the Oceanic and Halmahera-West New Guinea languages. The more than 500 languages of the Western Malayo-Polynesian (Indonesian) branch are spoken by people in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Malagasy, and parts of Vietnam and Taiwan. They include widely spoken languages such as Javanese, Malay, and Indonesian.

The Oceanic branch consists of about 500 languages spoken by people on islands throughout the Pacific Ocean (the area classed as Oceania). These languages fall into the following three groups: Admiralty Islands; Central-Eastern Oceanic; and Western Oceanic. The 31 Admiralty Islands languages are all spoken in Papua New Guinea, and include Kuanua and Halia.

The over 200 Central-Eastern languages are spoken in the Solomon Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu (among others). This sub-group includes a branch of 20 Micronesian languages, spoken in Micronesia. Well-known Central-Eastern Oceanic languages include Samoan, Tongan, Tahitian, Maori (spoken in New Zealand), and Hawaiian. They are remarkably uniform in grammar and phonology (but not vocabulary) and have rich vowel systems and few consonants. Their oral literature is extensive.

The 237 Western Oceanic languages are spoken in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Indonesia. Extremely diverse, they constitute a geographical group rather than one based on linguistic traits. Many of these languages show striking changes from the hypothetical Proto-Oceanic language. Those of New Guinea were influenced by the non-Austronesian Papuan languages, which has caused their grammatical structure to become more complex.

III

Origin

It is generally believed that the Austronesian language (Proto-Austronesian) originated 5,000 or 6,000 years ago, with Aboriginal Taiwanese in Taiwan. It was carried southwards and westwards as they migrated, and had spread throughout Oceania several thousand years ago. However, one American academic recently put forward the theory that the language has its origins with the peoples of South East Asia, particularly Indonesia and the islands surrounding it, before spreading to the other areas of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia. This has sparked much debate, but the former theory remains the most widely accepted.

IV

Characteristics

While the Austronesian languages are very diverse, they do share some characteristics. In general, the Austronesian languages use affixes (suffixes, infixes, prefixes) attached to base words to modify the meaning or to indicate the function of the word in the sentence. In some languages, particularly in Polynesia, the affixes have become independent particles placed near the base word. Base words often have two syllables. Reduplication is used to indicate plural number and other changes of meaning. Thus, in Malay rumah means “house”, and rumah-rumah means “houses”. Verbal and nominal systems are often complex; in Pilipino, or Tagalog, for example, verbs have three forms of passive voice. Javanese and some other languages have forms of speech for specific social situations (such as informal or deferential). The Formosan languages have borrowed from neighbouring tonal languages and now use some tones to distinguish meaning. Austronesian languages are written either in the Roman alphabet or in their own unique alphabets based on Indian and Arabic scripts.

English words of Austronesian origin include taboo, tattoo, and ukelele (from Polynesian); amok, gingham, and kapok (from Malay); batik and junk (from Javanese); and boondocks, from Pilipino bundok, “mountain”.

Selected statistical data from Ethnologue: Languages of the World, SIL International.