Where did the Austronesian language originate from?
Some scholars are of the opinion that this language originated in the country of Taiwan, while other scholars believe that the Austronesian language originated in the country of Indonesia. This language is spoken by a huge number of people around the globe.
How many languages are there in the Austronesian family?
Major Austronesian languages include Malay (around 250–270 million in Indonesia alone in its own literary standard named "Indonesian"), Javanese, Sundanese, and Tagalog ( Filipino ). According to some estimates, the family contains 1,257 languages, which is the second most of any language family. [2]
Where are the Austronesian languages spoken in Melanesia?
The Austronesian languages of Melanesia are often found closely interspersed with an older population of non-Austronesian languages, collectively known as Papuan. With few exceptions the Austronesian languages of Melanesia tend to be spoken in coastal areas and on small offshore islands.
How many Austronesian languages are spoken in Taiwan?
Fourteen of the 21 or 22 Austronesian languages spoken by the pre-Chinese aboriginal population of Taiwan (also called Formosa) survive. Siraya and Favorlang, which are now extinct, are attested from fairly extensive religious texts compiled by missionaries during the Dutch occupation of southwestern Taiwan (1624–62).
Where are Austronesian languages found?
The Austronesian languages are spoken in most of the Indonesian archipelago: the Philippines, Madagascar, the island groups of the Central and South Pacific, Malaysia and in many parts of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Taiwan.
How did the Austronesian language spread?
The long-established theory -- based on archaeological, linguistic and genetic evidence -- is that the development of rice farming in mainland China spread to Taiwan, where the languages later known as Austronesian developed.
What languages come from Austronesian?
Major languages. Major Austronesian languages include Cebuano, Tagalog, Ilocano, Hiligaynon, Bicol, Waray-Waray, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan of the Philippines; Malay, Javanese, Sundanese, Madurese, Minangkabau, the Batak languages, Acehnese, Balinese, and Buginese of western Indonesia; and Malagasy of Madagascar.
What country is the Austronesian from?
The Austronesian peoples, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples in Madagascar, Island Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesia, Polynesia, and Taiwan that speak Austronesian languages.
What was the first Austronesian language?
Malayo-PolynesianThe first was Malayo-Polynesian, distributed across the Philippines, Indonesia, and Melanesia. The second migration was that of the Oceanic languages into Polynesia and Micronesia.
Why is it called Austronesian?
The name “Austronesian” comes from the Greek words for 'south' and 'island. ' Austronesia includes Madagascar, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and the Pacific islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.
Are Filipinos Polynesian?
Indigenous Filipinos and most of Costal South East Asia hail from austronesians, the same group where polynesians come from. Culturally, there is a resemblance (of polynesians with indigenous filipinos) but Autronesians diversified so much when they migrated around the world.
How did Austronesians get to Philippines?
According to historians, some 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, groups of people from Indonesia and Malaysia arrived in the islands of the Philippines to be its first settlers. Both of these countries belong to the Austronesian region and they brought with them their own cultures, traditions as well as languages.
Is Japanese Austronesian language?
A hypothesis that Japanese is a mix of Austronesian and Altaic. The theory of an Altaic superstratum and Austronesian substratum basically means that an Austronesian language was spoken in early Japan, but later on an Altaic language took over. Through learning imperfections, cultural terms etc.
Is Korean an Austronesian language?
According to the so-called Southern theory, Korean belongs to the Austronesian language family. However, according to the Northern theory, supported by a number of linguists, Korean is a member of the Altaic language family.
Is Tagalog an Austronesian language?
Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a quarter of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by the majority. Its standardized form, officially named Filipino, is the national language and one of two official languages of the Philippines, the other being English.
What do you mean by Austronesian language?
: of, relating to, or constituting a family of languages spoken in the area extending from Madagascar eastward through the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago to Hawaii and Easter Island and including practically all the native languages of the Pacific islands with the exception of the Australian and Papuan languages.
How did Austronesians get to Philippines?
According to historians, some 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, groups of people from Indonesia and Malaysia arrived in the islands of the Philippines to be its first settlers. Both of these countries belong to the Austronesian region and they brought with them their own cultures, traditions as well as languages.
What is Austronesian migration theory?
According to this theory, the peoples of the Philippines are the descendants of those cultures who remained on the Philippine islands when others moved first southwards, then eastward and westward.
What is the role of Austronesian in Philippine history?
The Austronesian speakers are associated with the spread of Neolithic culture in the Philippine archipelago. Neolithic cultural stage in the Philippines usually includes the development of agriculture, polished stone tools, pottery making and Austronesian languages.
How old are Austronesian languages?
The ancestor of all Austronesian languages (referred to by linguists as “Proto-Austronesian”) is thought to have been spoken roughly 6,000 years ago on what is today Taiwan.
Where is the Austronesian language spoken?
The Austronesian languages ( / ˌɒstroʊˈniːʒən /, / ˌɒstrə -/, / ˌɔːstroʊ -/, / ˌɔːstrə -/) are a language family, widely spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan (by Taiwanese aborigines ). There are also a number of speakers in continental Asia. They are spoken by about 386 million people ...
How many people speak Austronesian?
They are spoken by about 386 million people (4.9% of the world population ). This makes it the fifth-largest language family by number of speakers. Major Austronesian languages include Malay ( Indonesian and Malaysian ), Javanese, and Tagalog ( Filipino ).
How many consonants are there in Austronesian?
The Austronesian languages overall possess phoneme inventories which are smaller than the world average. Around 90% of the Austronesian languages have inventories of 19-25 sounds (15-20 consonants and 4-5 vowels), thus lying at the lower end of the global typical range of 20-37 sounds. However, extreme inventories are also found, such as Nemi ( New Caledonia) with 43 consonants, or Northwest Mekeo ( Papua New Guinea) with only 7 consonants.
What is the name of the eye in the Austronesian language family?
Some cognate sets are very stable. The word for eye in many Austronesian languages is mata (from the most northerly Austronesian languages, Formosan languages such as Bunun and Amis all the way south to Māori ).
How many people speak Malay?
For example, Malay is spoken by 250 million people. This makes it the eighth most-spoken language in the world. Approximately twenty Austronesian languages are official in their respective countries (see the list of major and official Austronesian languages ).
What is the root type of the proto-Austronesian root?
The canonical root type in Proto-Austronesian is disyllabic with the shape CV (C)CVC ( C = consonant; V = vowel), and is still found in many Austronesian languages. In most languages, consonant clusters are only allowed in medial position, and often, there are restrictions for the first element of the cluster.
What are the outliers of the Austronesian language?
Hawaiian, Rapa Nui, Māori, and Malagasy (spoken on Madagascar) are the geographic outliers. According to Robert Blust (1999), Austronesian is divided into several primary branches, all but one of which are found exclusively in Taiwan.
Where did the language of Austronesian originate?
The long-established theory - based on archaeological, linguistic and genetic evidence - is that the development of rice farming in mainland China spread to Taiwan, where the languages later known as Austronesian developed. From, here the population and their language spread outwards throughout the region, some 4,000 years ago.
How many people speak Austronesian?
THE languages known as Austronesian are spoken by more than 380 million people in territories that include Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Madagascar and the islands of the Pacific.
When did the Pacific Islanders spread outwards?
From, here the population and their language spread outwards throughout the region, some 4,000 years ago. But detailed analysis of genetic data shows a more complex picture, because the mitochondrial DNA found in Pacific islanders was present in Island Southeast Asia at a much earlier period, casting doubt on the dominant "Out of Taiwan" theory.
Overview
The Austronesian languages are a language family widely spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan (by Taiwanese indigenous peoples). There are also a number of speakers in continental Asia. They are spoken by about 386 million people (4.9% of the world population). This makes it the fifth-largest language family by number o…
Typological characteristics
The Austronesian languages overall possess phoneme inventories which are smaller than the world average. Around 90% of the Austronesian languages have inventories of 19–25 sounds (15–20 consonants and 4–5 vowels), thus lying at the lower end of the global typical range of 20–37 sounds. However, extreme inventories are also found, such as Nemi (New Caledonia) with 43 con…
Lexicon
The Austronesian language family has been established by the linguistic comparative method on the basis of cognate sets, sets of words similar in sound and meaning which can be shown to be descended from the same ancestral word in Proto-Austronesian according to regular rules. Some cognate sets are very stable. The word for eye in many Austronesian languages is mata (from the most northerly Austronesian languages, Formosan languages such as Bunun and Amis all the way …
Classification
The internal structure of the Austronesian languages is complex. The family consists of many similar and closely related languages with large numbers of dialect continua, making it difficult to recognize boundaries between branches. The first major step towards high-order subgrouping was Dempwolff's recognition of the Oceanic subgroup (called Melanesisch by Dempwolff). The s…
History
From the standpoint of historical linguistics, the place of origin (in linguistic terminology, Urheimat) of the Austronesian languages (Proto-Austronesian language) is most likely the main island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa; on this island the deepest divisions in Austronesian are found along small geographic distances, among the families of the native Formosan languages.
According to Robert Blust, the Formosan languages form nine of the ten primary branches of th…
Hypothesized relations
Genealogical links have been proposed between Austronesian and various families of East and Southeast Asia.
An Austro-Tai proposal linking Austronesian and the Kra-Dai languages of the southeastern continental Asian mainland was first proposed by Paul K. Benedict, and is supported by Weera Ostapirat, Roger Blench, and Laurent Sagart, based …
Writing systems
Most Austronesian languages have Latin-based writing systems today. Some non-Latin-based writing systems are listed below.
• Brahmi script
• Arabic script
• Hangul – once used to write the Cia-Cia language but the project is no longer active.
See also
• Languages of Taiwan
• Proto-Austronesian Language
• Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association
• List of Austronesian languages