Austronesian languages Totally Explained

Austronesian

Saisiyat
Atayalic: Atayal and Sediq (Taroko Gorge)
Kulunic: Popora-Hoanya, Pazeh
Thaoic: Thao, Babuza
Bunun
Amic: Amis, Kavalan, Basay, Siraya
Tsouic: Tsou, Kanakanabu, Saaroa
Rukai
Puyuma
Paiwan
Malayo-Polynesian (see below)-->

The seminal article regarding the subgroupings of Formosan (and by extension, the top-level structure of Austronesian) is . His proposed grouping was certainly not the first. In fact, he lists no less than seventeen others, discussing some of their features. Prominent Formosanists (linguists who specialize in Formosan languages) take issue with some of its details. However, it remains the point of reference for current linguistic analyses. Note that the first nine primary branches of Austronesian are composed entirely of Formosan languages:
Austronesian

Atayalic (Atayal, Seediq) [notealternate names for Seediq:Truku, Taroko, Sediq]

East Formosan

Northern (Basai-Trobiawan, Kavalan)
Central (Amis)
Southwest (Siraya)

Puyuma

Paiwan

Rukai

Tsouic (Tsou, Saaroa, Kanakanabu)

Bunun

Western Plains

Central Western Plains (Taokas-Babuza, Papora-Hoanya)
Thao

Northwest Formosan (Saisiyat, Kulon-Pazeh)

Malayo-Polynesian (see below)

Formosan classification II

Austronesian

Atayalic

Tsou-Malayo-Polynesian

Rukai-Tsouic
Paiwan-Malayo-Polynesian
- Paiwanic linkage: Amic, Bunun, Kulunic, Paiwan, Puyuma, Saisiyat, Thaoic
- Malayo-Polynesian (see below)

Malayo-Polynesian classification

Quotations to .
Malayo-Polynesian

Borneo-Philippines, or Outer Western Malayo-Polynesian (Outer Hesperonesian): many small groups of languages, with the most important languages being Tagalog, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Ilokano, Kapampangan, Malagasy, Tausug

Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian (possibly dispersed from Sulawesi)

Sunda-Sulawesi, or Inner Western Malayo-Polynesian (Inner Hesperonesian): Western Indonesia: Buginese (of Sulawesi), Acehnese, Cham (of Vietnam), Malay (Malaysian/Indonesian), Iban (of Borneo), Sundanese, Javanese, Balinese; also Chamorro (of Guam), Palauan
Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian
- Central Malayo-Polynesian linkage, or Bandanesian: around the Banda Sea: languages of Timor, Sumba, Flores, and the Malukus
- Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, or "Melanesian", if this term is redefined to subsume Micronesian and Polynesian
  - South Halmahera-Geelvink Bay: languages of Halmahera and western New Guinea, the most important being Taba and Biak
  - Oceanic: A well-supported family that includes all the Austronesian languages of Melanesia from Jayapura east, Polynesia, and most of Micronesia

Lexicon

The Austronesian language family is 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 south to Maori). Other words are harder to reconstruct. The word for two is also stable, in that it appears over the entire range of the Austronesian family, but the forms (for example Bunun rusya, lusha; Amis tusa; Maori tua, rua) require some linguistic expertise to recognise. The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database

gives word lists (coded for cognacy) for approximately 500 Austronesian languages.

Major languages

External results

Click here for more details on Austronesian Languages

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