Austronesian languages#Japanese

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.{{sfnp|Blust|2013|p=169}}

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.{{sfnp|Blust|2013|p=212}} In most languages, consonant clusters are only allowed in medial position, and often, there are restrictions for the first element of the cluster.{{sfnp|Blust|2013|pp=215–218}} There is a common drift to reduce the number of consonants which can appear in final position, e.g. Buginese, which only allows the two consonants /ŋ/ and /ʔ/ as finals, out of a total number of 18 consonants. Complete absence of final consonants is observed e.g. in Nias, Malagasy and many Oceanic languages.{{sfnp|Blust|2013|pp=220–222}}

Tonal contrasts are rare in Austronesian languages,{{sfnp|Crowley|2009|p=100}} although Moken–Moklen and a few languages of the Chamic, South Halmahera–West New Guinea and New Caledonian subgroups do show lexical tone.{{sfnp|Blust|2013|pp=188–189, 200, 206}}

Most Austronesian languages are agglutinative languages with a relatively high number of affixes, and clear morpheme boundaries.{{sfnp|Blust|2013|p=355}} Most affixes are prefixes (Malay ber-jalan 'walk' < jalan 'road'), with a smaller number of suffixes (Tagalog titis-án 'ashtray' < títis 'ash') and infixes (Roviana tavete 'work (noun)' < tavete 'work (verb)').{{sfnp|Blust|2013|pp=370–399}}

Reduplication is commonly employed in Austronesian languages. This includes full reduplication (Malay anak-anak 'children' < anak 'child'; Karo Batak nipe-nipe 'caterpillar' < nipe 'snake') or partial reduplication (Agta taktakki 'legs' < takki 'leg', at-atu 'puppy' < atu 'dog').{{sfnp|Blust|2013|pp=406–431}}

File:Hawaii Banknote 5 Dollars c 1839.jpg]]

It is difficult to make generalizations about the languages that make up a family as diverse as Austronesian. Very broadly, one can divide the Austronesian languages into three groups: Philippine-type languages, Indonesian-type languages and post-Indonesian type languages:{{sfnp|Ross|2002|p=453}}

• The first group includes, besides the languages of the Philippines, the Austronesian languages of Taiwan, Sabah, North Sulawesi and Madagascar. It is primarily characterized by the retention of the original system of Philippine-type voice alternations, where typically three or four verb voices determine which semantic role the "subject"/"topic" expresses (it may express either the actor, the patient, the location and the beneficiary, or various other circumstantial roles such as instrument and concomitant). The phenomenon has frequently been referred to as focus (not to be confused with the usual sense of that term in linguistics). Furthermore, the choice of voice is influenced by the definiteness of the participants. The word order has a strong tendency to be verb-initial.
• In contrast, the more innovative Indonesian-type languages, which are particularly represented in Malaysia and western Indonesia, have reduced the voice system to a contrast between only two voices (actor voice and "undergoer" voice), but these are supplemented by applicative morphological devices (originally two: the more direct *-i and more oblique *-an/-[a]kən), which serve to modify the semantic role of the "undergoer". They are also characterized by the presence of preposed clitic pronouns. Unlike the Philippine type, these languages mostly tend towards verb-second word-orders. A number of languages, such as the Batak languages, Old Javanese, Balinese, Sasak and several Sulawesi languages seem to represent an intermediate stage between these two types.{{cite book|last1=Adelaar|first1=K. Alexander|first2=Nikolaus|last2=Himmelmann|year=2005|title=The Austronesian Languages of Asia and Madagascar|pages=6–7|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0415681537}}{{cite book|last=Croft|first=William|year=2012|title=Verbs: Aspect and Causal Structure|page=261|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199248599}}
• Finally, in some languages, which Ross calls "post-Indonesian", the original voice system has broken down completely and the voice-marking affixes no longer preserve their functions.

{{main|Proto-Austronesian language#Vocabulary}}

The Austronesian language family has been established by the linguistic comparative method on the basis of cognate sets, sets of words from multiple languages, which are 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 Māori).{{sfn|Greenhill|Blust|Gray|2003–2019}}

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 (e.g. Bunun dusa; Amis tusa; Māori rua) require some linguistic expertise to recognise. The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database gives word lists (coded for cognateness) for approximately 1000 Austronesian languages.{{sfn|Greenhill|Blust|Gray|2003–2019}}

==Classification==

File:Austronesian family.png

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 special position of the languages of Taiwan was first recognized by André-Georges Haudricourt (1965),{{sfnp|Haudricourt|1965|p=315}} who divided the Austronesian languages into three subgroups: Northern Austronesian (= Formosan), Eastern Austronesian (= Oceanic), and Western Austronesian (all remaining languages).

In a study that represents the first lexicostatistical classification of the Austronesian languages, Isidore Dyen (1965) presented a radically different subgrouping scheme.{{sfnp|Dyen|1965}} He posited 40 first-order subgroups, with the highest degree of diversity found in the area of Melanesia. The Oceanic languages are not recognized, but are distributed over more than 30 of his proposed first-order subgroups. Dyen's classification was widely criticized and for the most part rejected,{{sfnp|Grace|1966}} but several of his lower-order subgroups are still accepted (e.g. the Cordilleran languages, the Bilic languages or the Murutic languages).

Subsequently, the position of the Formosan languages as the most archaic group of Austronesian languages was recognized by Otto Christian Dahl (1973),{{sfnp|Dahl|1973}} followed by proposals from other scholars that the Formosan languages actually make up more than one first-order subgroup of Austronesian. Robert Blust (1977) first presented the subgrouping model which is currently accepted by virtually all scholars in the field,{{sfnp|Blust|1977}} with more than one first-order subgroup on Taiwan, and a single first-order branch encompassing all Austronesian languages spoken outside of Taiwan, viz. Malayo-Polynesian. The relationships of the Formosan languages to each other and the internal structure of Malayo-Polynesian continue to be debated.

In addition to Malayo-Polynesian, thirteen Formosan subgroups are broadly accepted. The seminal article in the classification of Formosan—and, by extension, the top-level structure of Austronesian—is {{Harvcoltxt|Blust|1999}}. Prominent Formosanists (linguists who specialize in Formosan languages) take issue with some of its details, but it remains the point of reference for current linguistic analyses. Debate centers primarily around the relationships between these families. Of the classifications presented here, {{Harvcoltxt|Blust|1999}} links two families into a Western Plains group, two more in a Northwestern Formosan group, and three into an Eastern Formosan group, while {{harvp|Li|2008}} also links five families into a Northern Formosan group. Harvey (1982), Chang (2006) and Ross (2012) split Tsouic, and Blust (2013) agrees the group is probably not valid.

Other studies have presented phonological evidence for a reduced Paiwanic family of Paiwanic, Puyuma, Bunun, Amis, and Malayo-Polynesian, but this is not reflected in vocabulary. The Eastern Formosan peoples Basay, Kavalan, and Amis share a homeland motif that has them coming originally from an island called Sinasay or Sanasay.{{sfnp|Li|2004}} The Amis, in particular, maintain that they came from the east, and were treated by the Puyuma, amongst whom they settled, as a subservient group.{{cite journal | title=A ramble through southern Formosa

| last1=Taylor | first1=G.

| year=1888

| journal=The China Review | volume=16 | pages=137–161

| quote =The Tipuns... are certainly descended from emigrants, and I have not the least doubt but that the Amias are of similar origin; only of later date, and most probably from the Mejaco Simas [that is, Miyako-jima], a group of islands lying 110 miles to the North-east.... By all accounts the old Pilam savages, who merged into the Tipuns, were the first settlers on the plain; then came the Tipuns, and a long time afterwards the Amias. The Tipuns, for some time, acknowledged the Pilam Chief as supreme, but soon absorbed both the chieftainship and the people, in fact the only trace left of them now, is a few words peculiar to the Pilam village, one of which, makan (to eat), is pure Malay. The Amias submitted themselves to the jurisdiction of the Tipuns.}}

File:Formosan languages en.svg

{{Div col|colwidth=25em}}

{{tree list}}

• Formosan
• {{legend|#FFF9A5|Tsouic
  (abandoned in Blust 2013)}}
• Tsou language
• Saaroa language
• Kanakanavu language
• {{legend|#FECCA0|Western Plains }}
• Thao language {{aka}} Sao: Brawbaw and Shtafari dialects
• Central Western Plains
• Babuza language; old Favorlang language: Taokas and Poavosa dialects
• Papora-Hoanya language: Papora, Hoanya dialects
• {{legend|#FEA4A4|Northwest Formosan}}
• Saisiyat language: Taai and Tungho dialects
• Pazeh language and Kulun
• {{legend|#9FD8B3|Atayalic }}
• Atayal language
• Seediq language {{aka}} Truku/Taroko
• {{legend|#CBA6CB|East Formosan
  (based on a single merger, of pAN *n and *j)}}
• Northern (Kavalanic languages)
• Basay language: Trobiawa and Linaw–Qauqaut dialects
• Kavalan language
• Ketagalan language, or Ketangalan
• Central (Ami)
• Amis proper
• Sakizaya
• Siraya language
• {{legend|#B7DF86|Bunun language }}
• {{legend|#E2E17F|Rukai language }}
• Mantauran, Tona, and Maga dialects of Rukai are divergent
• {{legend|#D3FE00|Puyuma language }}
• {{legend|#E1FEEB|Paiwan language (south-eastern tip of Formosa)}}
• (outside Formosa)
• {{legend|#DF7575|Malayo-Polynesian}}

{{tree list/end}}

{{div col end}}

File:Formosan languages 2005.png

This classification retains Blust's East Formosan, and unites the other northern languages. {{harvp|Li|2008}} proposes a Proto-Formosan (F0) ancestor and equates it with Proto-Austronesian (PAN), following the model in Starosta (1995).{{cite book|last=Starosta|first=S|date=1995|chapter=A grammatical subgrouping of Formosan languages|editor1-link=Li Jen-kuei|editor1=P. Li|editor2=Cheng-hwa Tsang|editor3=Ying-kuei Huang|editor4-link=Dah-an Ho|editor4=Dah-an Ho|editor5=Chiu-yu Tseng|name-list-style=amp|title=Austronesian Studies Relating to Taiwan|pages=683–726|publication-place=Taipei|publisher=Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica}} Rukai and Tsouic are seen as highly divergent, although the position of Rukai is highly controversial.{{harvp|Li|2008|p=216}}: "The position of Rukai is the most controversial: Tsuchida... treats it as more closely related to Tsouic languages, based on lexicostatistic evidence, while Ho... believes it to be one of the Paiwanic languages, i.e. part of my Southern group, as based on a comparison of fourteen grammatical features. In fact, Japanese anthropologists did not distinguish between Rukai, Paiwan and Puyuma in the early stage of their studies"

{{Div col|colwidth=25em}}

{{tree list}}

• Formosan
• F0: Proto-Formosan = Proto-Austronesian
• {{legend|#FEA4A4|Rukai}}
• Mantauran
• Maga–Tona, Budai–Labuan–Taromak
• F1: (unnamed branch)
• {{legend|#FFF9A5|Central (Tsouic)}}
• Tsou
• Southern Tsouic
• Saaroa
• Kanakanavu
• F2: (unnamed branch)
• {{legend|#FECCA0|Northern Formosan}}
• Northwestern (Plains)
• Saisiyat–Kulon, Pazeh
• Western
• Thao
• West Coast (Papora–Hoanya–Babuza–Taokas)
• Atayalic
• Squliq Atayal
• Ts'ole' Atayal (= C'uli')
• Seediq
• {{legend|#CBA6CB|East Formosan}}
• Kavalan–Basay
• Siraya–Amis–Nataoran
• Sakizaya
• ? Southern [uncertain]
• {{legend|#B7DF86|Bunun}}
• Isbukun
• Northern and Central (Takitudu and Takbanuaz)
• {{legend|#9FD8B3|Paiwan–Puyuma [uncertain]}}

{{tree list/end}}

{{Div col end}}

File:Formosan languages Sagart 2021.png

Sagart (2004) proposes that the numerals of the Formosan languages reflect a nested series of innovations, from languages in the northwest (near the putative landfall of the Austronesian migration from the mainland), which share only the numerals 1–4 with proto-Malayo-Polynesian, counter-clockwise to the eastern languages (purple on map), which share all numerals 1–10. Sagart (2021) finds other shared innovations that follow the same pattern. He proposes that pMP *lima 'five' is a lexical replacement (from 'hand'), and that pMP *pitu 'seven', *walu 'eight' and *Siwa 'nine' are contractions of pAN *RaCep 'five', a ligature *a or *i 'and', and *duSa 'two', *telu 'three', *Sepat 'four', an analogical pattern historically attested from Pazeh. The fact that the Kradai languages share the numeral system (and other lexical innovations) of pMP suggests that they are a coordinate branch with Malayo-Polynesian, rather than a sister family to Austronesian.Laurent Sagart (2004) The Higher Phylogeny of Austronesian and the Position of Tai-KadaiLaurent Sagart (2021) A more detailed early Austronesian phylogeny. Plenary talk at the 15th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics.

Sagart's resulting classification is:The tree can be found at the following link. Click on the nodes to see the proposed shared innovations for each.
{{cite web | url = https://f-origin.hypotheses.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/3902/files/2020/12/Clickable-Austronesian-phylogeny_2020-.pdf | title = Shared innovations in early Austronesian phylogeny | author = Laurent Sagart | date = July 2021}}

{{tree list}}

• Austronesian (pAN ca. 5200 BP)
• {{legend|#df3b75|Saisiyat}}
• {{legend|#DF7575|Luilang}}
• {{legend|#FEA4A4|Pazeh, Kulon
  (These four languages are outside Pituish, but Sagart is ambivalent as to any relationship among them, other than retaining Blust's connection between Pazeh and Kulon)}}
• Pituish
  (pAN *RaCepituSa 'five-and-two' truncated to *pitu 'seven'; *sa-ŋ-aCu 'nine' [lit. one taken away])
• {{legend|#FECCA0|Favorlang–Taokas}}
• Limaish
  (pAN *RaCep 'five' replaced by *lima 'hand'; *Ca~ reduplication to form the series of numerals for counting humans)
• {{legend|#FFF9A5|Thao–Atayalic}}
• Enemish
  (additive 'five-and-one' or 'twice-three' replaced by reduplicated *Nem-Nem > *emnem [*Nem 'three' is reflected in Basay, Siraya and Makatao]; pAN *kawaS 'year, sky' replaced by *CawiN)
• {{legend|#D3FE00|Siraya}}
• Walu-Siwaish
  (*walu 'eight' and *Siwa 'nine' from *RaCepat(e)lu 'five-and-three' and *RaCepiSepat 'five-and-four')
• {{legend|#B7DF86|West WS: Papora–Hoanya
  (pAN *Sapuy 'fire' replaced by *[Z]apuR 'cooking fire'; pAN *qudem 'black replaced by *abi[Z]u, found in MP as 'blue')}}
• {{legend|#9FD8B3|Central WS
  (pAN *isa etc. 'one' replaced by *Ca~CiNi (reduplication of 'alone') in the human-counting series; pAN *iCit 'ten' replaced by *ma-sa-N 'one times'.)}}
• Bunun
• Rukai–Tsouic
  (CV~ reduplication in human-counting series replaced with competing pAN noun-marker *u- [unknown whether Bunun once had the same]; eleven lexical innovations such as *cáni 'one', *kəku 'leg')
• East WS (pEWS ca. 4500 BP)
  (innovations *baCaq-an 'ten'; *nanum 'water' alongside pAN *daNum)
• {{legend|#86A6C8|Kavalanic languages}}
• {{legend|#CBA6CB|Puluqish
  (innovative *sa-puluq 'ten', from *sa- 'one' + 'separate, set aside'; use of prefixes *paka- and *maka- to mark abilitative)}}
• Northern: Ami–Puyuma
  (*sasay 'one'; *mukeCep 'ten' for the human and non-human series; *ukak 'bone', *kuCem 'cloud')
• Paiwan
• Southern Austronesian (pSAN ca. 4000 BP)
  (linker *atu 'and' > *at after *sa-puluq in numerals 11–19; lexical innovations such as *baqbaq 'mouth', *qa-sáuŋ 'canine tooth', *qi(d)zúR 'saliva', *píntu 'door', *-ŋel 'deaf')
• Kra-Dai
• Malayo-Polynesian

{{tree list/end}}

{{main|Malayo-Polynesian languages}}

The Malayo-Polynesian languages are—among other things—characterized by certain sound changes, such as the mergers of Proto-Austronesian (PAN) *t/*C to Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP) *t, and PAN *n/*N to PMP *n, and the shift of PAN *S to PMP *h.{{sfnp|Blust|2013|p=742}}

There appear to have been two great migrations of Austronesian languages that quickly covered large areas, resulting in multiple local groups with little large-scale structure. The first was Malayo-Polynesian, distributed across the Malay archipelago and Melanesia. The second migration was that of the Oceanic languages into Polynesia and Micronesia.{{sfnp|Greenhill|Blust|Gray|2008}}

{{Main|List of major and official Austronesian languages}}

{{Further|Austronesian peoples#Migration from Taiwan{{!}}Austronesian expansion}}

File:Chronological dispersal of Austronesian people across the Pacific.svg

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 the Austronesian language family.{{sfnp|Sagart|2002}} {{Harvcoltxt|Comrie|2001|p=28}} noted this when he wrote:

... the internal diversity among the... Formosan languages... is greater than that in all the rest of Austronesian put together, so there is a major genetic split within Austronesian between Formosan and the rest... Indeed, the genetic diversity within Formosan is so great that it may well consist of several primary branches of the overall Austronesian family.

The protohistory of the Austronesian people can be traced farther back through time. To get an idea of the original homeland of the populations ancestral to the Austronesian peoples (as opposed to strictly linguistic arguments), evidence from archaeology and population genetics may be adduced. Studies from the science of genetics have produced conflicting outcomes. Some researchers find evidence for a proto-Austronesian homeland on the Asian mainland (e.g., {{Harvcolnb|Melton et al.|1998}}), while others mirror the linguistic research, rejecting an East Asian origin in favor of Taiwan (e.g., {{Harvcolnb|Trejaut et al.|2005}}). Archaeological evidence (e.g., {{Harvcolnb|Bellwood|1997}}) is more consistent, suggesting that the ancestors of the Austronesians spread from the South Chinese mainland to Taiwan at some time around 8,000 years ago.

Evidence from historical linguistics suggests that it is from this island that seafaring peoples migrated, perhaps in distinct waves separated by millennia, to the entire region encompassed by the Austronesian languages.{{sfnp|Diamond|2000}} It is believed that this migration began around 6,000 years ago.{{sfnp|Blust|1999}} However, evidence from historical linguistics cannot bridge the gap between those two periods. The view that linguistic evidence connects Austronesian languages to the Sino-Tibetan ones, as proposed for example by {{Harvcoltxt|Sagart|2002}}, is a minority one. As {{Harvcoltxt|Fox|2004|p=8}} states:

Implied in... discussions of subgrouping [of Austronesian languages] is a broad consensus that the homeland of the Austronesians was in Taiwan. This homeland area may have also included the P'eng-hu (Pescadores) islands between Taiwan and China and possibly even sites on the coast of mainland China, especially if one were to view the early Austronesians as a population of related dialect communities living in scattered coastal settlements.

File:Mainland pre-Austronesian cultures.png

File:Map07TN.png

Genealogical links have been proposed between Austronesian and various families of East and Southeast Asia.

{{Main|Austro-Tai languages}}

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 on the traditional comparative method. {{Harvcoltxt|Ostapirat|2005}} proposes a series of regular correspondences linking the two families and assumes a primary split, with Kra-Dai speakers being the people who stayed behind in their Chinese homeland. {{harvcoltxt|Blench|2004}} suggests that, if the connection is valid, the relationship is unlikely to be one of two sister families. Rather, he suggests that proto-Kra-Dai speakers were Austronesians who migrated to Hainan Island and back to the mainland from the northern Philippines, and that their distinctiveness results from radical restructuring following contact with Hmong–Mien and Sinitic. An extended version of Austro-Tai was hypothesized by Benedict who added the Japonic languages to the proposal as well.{{cite journal|author=Solnit, David B.|title=Japanese/Austro-Tai By Paul K. Benedict (review)|journal=Language|publisher=Linguistic Society of America|volume=687|number=1|pages=188–196|date=March 1992|doi=10.1353/lan.1992.0061|s2cid=141811621}}

{{Main|Austric languages}}

A link with the Austroasiatic languages in an 'Austric' phylum is based mostly on typological evidence. However, there is also morphological evidence of a connection between the conservative Nicobarese languages and Austronesian languages of the Philippines.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} Robert Blust supports the hypothesis which connects the lower Yangtze neolithic Austro-Tai entity with the rice-cultivating Austro-Asiatic cultures, assuming the center of East Asian rice domestication, and putative Austric homeland, to be located in the Yunnan/Burma border area.{{sfn|Sagart|Hsu|Tsai|Hsing|2017|p = 188}} Under that view, there was an east-west genetic alignment, resulting from a rice-based population expansion, in the southern part of East Asia: Austroasiatic-Kra-Dai-Austronesian, with unrelated Sino-Tibetan occupying a more northerly tier.{{sfn|Sagart|Hsu|Tsai|Hsing|2017|p = 188}}

{{Main|Sino-Austronesian languages}}

French linguist and Sinologist Laurent Sagart considers the Austronesian languages to be related to the Sino-Tibetan languages, and also groups the Kra–Dai languages as more closely related to the Malayo-Polynesian languages.{{cite book|last=van Driem|first=George|date=2005|chapter=Sino-Austronesian vs. Sino-Caucasian, Sino-Bodic vs. Sino-Tibetan, and Tibeto-Burman as default theory|title=Contemporary Issues in Nepalese Linguistics|publication-place=Kathmandu|publisher=Linguistic Society of Nepal|editor1=Yogendra Prasada Yadava|editor2=Govinda Bhattarai|editor3=Ram Raj Lohani|editor4=Balaram Prasain|editor5=Krishna Parajuli|pages=285–338 [304]|chapter-url=http://www.eastling.org/paper/Driem.pdf|access-date=2010-10-29|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726012439/http://www.eastling.org/paper/Driem.pdf|archive-date=2011-07-26}} Sagart argues for a north-south genetic relationship between Chinese and Austronesian, based on sound correspondences in the basic vocabulary and morphological parallels.{{sfn|Sagart|Hsu|Tsai|Hsing|2017|p = 188}} Laurent Sagart (2017) concludes that the possession of the two kinds of millets{{efn|Setaria italica and Panicum miliaceum.}} in Taiwanese Austronesian languages (not just Setaria, as previously thought) places the pre-Austronesians in northeastern China, adjacent to the probable Sino-Tibetan homeland.{{sfn|Sagart|Hsu|Tsai|Hsing|2017|p = 188}} Ko et al.'s genetic research (2014) appears to support Laurent Sagart's linguistic proposal, pointing out that the exclusively Austronesian mtDNA E-haplogroup and the largely Sino-Tibetan M9a haplogroup are twin sisters, indicative of an intimate connection between the early Austronesian and Sino-Tibetan maternal gene pools, at least.{{sfn|Sagart|Hsu|Tsai|Hsing|2017|p = 189}}{{sfn|Ko|2014|pp = 426–436}} Additionally, results from Wei et al. (2017) are also in agreement with Sagart's proposal, in which their analyses show that the predominantly Austronesian Y-DNA haplogroup O3a2b*-P164(xM134) belongs to a newly defined haplogroup O3a2b2-N6 being widely distributed along the eastern coastal regions of Asia, from Korea to Vietnam.{{sfn|Wei|Yan|Teo|Huang|2017|pp = 1–12}} Sagart also groups the Austronesian languages in a recursive-like fashion, placing Kra-Dai as a sister branch of Malayo-Polynesian. His methodology has been found to be spurious by his peers.{{sfnp|Winter|2010}}{{sfnp|Blust|2013|pp=710–713, 745–747}}

{{Main|Classification of the Japonic languages#Proposals relating Japonic languages to Southeast Asian language families}}

Several linguists have proposed that Japanese is genetically related to the Austronesian family, cf. Benedict (1990), Matsumoto (1975), Miller (1967).

Some other linguists think it is more plausible that Japanese is not genetically related to the Austronesian languages, but instead was influenced by an Austronesian substratum or adstratum.

Those who propose this scenario suggest that the Austronesian family once covered the islands to the north as well as to the south. Martine Robbeets (2017){{Cite journal |last=Robbeets |first=Martine |year=2017 |title=Austronesian influence and Transeurasian ancestry in Japanese: A case of farming/language dispersal |journal=Language Dynamics and Change |volume=7 |issue=2 |doi=10.1163/22105832-00702005 |pages=210–251 |doi-access=free |hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-002E-8635-7 |hdl-access=free }} claims that Japanese genetically belongs to the "Transeurasian" (= Macro-Altaic) languages, but underwent lexical influence from "para-Austronesian", a presumed sister language of Proto-Austronesian.

The linguist Ann Kumar (2009) proposed that some Austronesians might have migrated to Japan, possibly an elite-group from Java, and created the Japanese-hierarchical society. She also identifies 82 possible cognates between Austronesian and Japanese, however her theory remains very controversial.{{cite book |last=Kumar |first=Ann |year=2009 |title=Globalizing the Prehistory of Japan: Language, Genes and Civilization. |location=Oxford |publisher=Routledge}} The linguist Asha Pereltsvaig criticized Kumar's theory on several points. The archaeological problem with that theory is that, contrary to the claim that there was no rice farming in China and Korea in prehistoric times, excavations have indicated that rice farming has been practiced in this area since at least 5000 BC. There are also genetic problems. The pre-Yayoi Japanese lineage was not shared with Southeast Asians, but was shared with Northwest Chinese, Tibetans and Central Asians. Linguistic problems were also pointed out. Kumar did not claim that Japanese was an Austronesian language derived from proto-Javanese language, but only that it provided a superstratum language for old Japanese, based on 82 plausible Javanese-Japanese cognates, mostly related to rice farming.{{Cite web |date=2011-05-09 |title=Javanese influence on Japanese |url=https://www.languagesoftheworld.info/historical-linguistics/javanese-influence-on-japanese.html |access-date=2023-06-13 |website=Languages Of The World |language=en-US}}

{{Main|East Asian languages}}

In 2001, Stanley Starosta proposed a new language family named East Asian, that includes all primary language families in the broader East Asia region except Japonic and Koreanic. This proposed family consists of two branches, Austronesian and Sino-Tibetan-Yangzian, with the Kra-Dai family considered to be a branch of Austronesian, and "Yangzian" to be a new sister branch of Sino-Tibetan consisting of the Austroasiatic and Hmong-Mien languages.{{cite book | given = Stanley | surname = Starosta | chapter = Proto-East Asian and the origin and dispersal of languages of east and southeast Asia and the Pacific | pages = [https://archive.org/details/peoplingeastasia00blen/page/n210 182]–197 | title = The Peopling of East Asia: Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics | url = https://archive.org/details/peoplingeastasia00blen | url-access = limited | editor-given1 = Laurent | editor-surname1 = Sagart | editor-given2 = Roger | editor-surname2 = Blench | editor-given3 = Alicia | editor-surname3 = Sanchez-Mazas | location = London | publisher = Routledge Curzon | year = 2005 | isbn = 978-0-415-32242-3 }} This proposal was further researched by linguists like Michael D. Larish in 2006, who also included the Japonic and Koreanic languages in the macrofamily. The proposal has since been adopted by linguists such as George van Driem, albeit without the inclusion of Japonic and Koreanic.van Driem, George. 2018. "{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20210110235952/https://himalayanlanguages.org/files/driem/pdfs/2018i.pdf The East Asian linguistic phylum: A reconstruction based on language and genes]}}", Journal of the Asiatic Society, LX (4): 1–38.

{{Main|Austronesian–Ongan languages}}

{{harvp|Blevins|2007}} proposed that the Austronesian and the Ongan protolanguage are the descendants of an Austronesian–Ongan protolanguage.{{sfnp|Blevins|2007}} This view is not supported by mainstream linguists and remains very controversial. Robert Blust rejects Blevins' proposal as far-fetched and based solely on chance resemblances and methodologically flawed comparisons.{{sfnp|Blust|2014}}

{{see also|Writing systems of Southeast Asia}}

{{multiple image

| direction = vertical

| image1 = Bali, Pura Besakih 1.jpg

| caption1 = A sign in Balinese and Latin script at a Hindu temple in Bali

| image2 = Manuscript in Toba-Batak language, central Sumatra, early 1800s - Robert C. Williams Paper Museum - DSC00360.JPG

| caption2 = A manuscript from the early 1800s using the Batak script

| image3 =Rongorongo Schrift.jpg

| caption3 = Rongorongo glyph, assumed to be the writing system of the Rapa Nui language

}}

Most Austronesian languages have Latin-based writing systems today. Some non-Latin-based writing systems are listed below.

• Brahmi script
• Kawi script
• Balinese alphabet – used to write Balinese, Kawi, Malay, Sasak, and Sanskrit.
• Batak alphabet – used to write several Batak languages.
• Baybayin – used to write Tagalog and several Philippine languages.
• Bima alphabet – once used to write the Bima language.
• Buhid alphabet – used to write Buhid language.
• Hanunó'o alphabet – used to write Hanuno'o language.
• Javanese script – used to write the Javanese language and several neighbouring languages like Madurese.
• Kerinci alphabet (Kaganga) – used to write the Kerinci language.
• Kulitan alphabet – used to write the Kapampangan language.
• Lampung alphabet – used to write Lampung and Komering.
• Linggi alphabet – used to write Peninsular Malayic languages.
• Lontara alphabet – used to write the Buginese, Makassarese and several languages of Sulawesi.
• Sundanese script – standardized script based on Old Sundanese script, used to write the Sundanese language.
• Rejang alphabet – used to write the Rejang language.
• Rencong alphabet – once used to write the Malay language.
• Tagbanwa alphabet – once used to write various Palawan languages.
• Lota alphabet – used to write the Ende-Li'o language.
• Cham alphabet – used to write Cham language.
• Arabic script
• Pegon alphabet – used to write Javanese, Sundanese and Madurese as well as several smaller neighbouring languages.
• Jawi alphabet – used to write Malay, Acehnese, Banjar, Minangkabau, Maguindanao, Tausug, Western Cham and others.
• Sorabe alphabet – once used to write several dialects of Malagasy language.
• Hangul – used to write the Cia-Cia language but the project is no longer active.
• Dunging – used to write the Iban language
• Avoiuli – used to write the Raga language.
• Eskayan – used to write the Eskayan language, a secret language based on Boholano.
• Woleai script (Caroline Island script) – used to write the Carolinian language (Refaluwasch).
• Rongorongo – possibly used to write the Rapa Nui language.
• Gagarit Abada – used to write Dusunic languages but it was not widely used.
• Gangga Melayu – used to write Perak Malay
• Braille – used in Filipino, Malay, Indonesian, Tolai, Motu, Māori, Samoan, Malagasy, and many other Austronesian languages.

Below are two charts comparing list of numbers of 1–10 and thirteen words in Austronesian languages; spoken in Taiwan, the Philippines, the Mariana Islands, Indonesia, Malaysia, Chams or Champa (in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam), East Timor, Papua, New Zealand, Hawaii, Madagascar, Borneo, Kiribati, Caroline Islands, and Tuvalu.

{{Portal|Language|Indonesia|Taiwan}}

• Languages of Indonesia
• Languages of Taiwan
• Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association
• List of Austronesian languages
• List of Austronesian regions

{{notelist}}

{{reflist|30em}}

{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}

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• {{cite book|editor1-surname=Wouk |editor1-given=Fay |editor2-surname=Ross |editor2-given=Malcolm |editor2-link=Malcolm Ross (linguist) |year=2002 |title=The history and typology of western Austronesian voice systems |series=Pacific Linguistics |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University}}

{{refend}}

{{refbegin}}

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• Wittmann, Henri (1972). "Le caractère génétiquement composite des changements phonétiques du malgache." [http://www.nou-la.org/ling/1972a-malgache.pdf Proceedings of the International Congress of Phonetic Sciences] 7.807–810. La Haye: Mouton.
• Wolff, John U., "Comparative Austronesian Dictionary. An Introduction to Austronesian Studies", Language, vol. 73, no. 1, pp. 145–156, Mar 1997, {{ISSN|0097-8507}}

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• [https://acd.clld.org/ Blust's Austronesian Comparative Dictionary]
• [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Swadesh_lists_for_Austronesian_languages Swadesh lists of Austronesian basic vocabulary words] (from Wiktionary's [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Swadesh_lists Swadesh-list appendix])
• {{cite web|url=http://www2.hawaii.edu/~reid/|title=Homepage of linguist Dr. Lawrence Reid|access-date=July 28, 2005}}
• [http://www.sil.org/pacific/png Summer Institute of Linguistics site showing languages (Austronesian and Papuan) of Papua New Guinea.]
• {{cite web|url=http://www-personal.umich.edu/~rustyb/112/austronesian.htm|title=Austronesian Language Resources|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041122214717/http://www-personal.umich.edu/~rustyb/112/austronesian.htm|archive-date=November 22, 2004|url-status=dead}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20220601190346/http://coconutstudio.com/Austro%20Nos%20Mar2008%2011-3.xls Spreadsheet of 1600+ Austronesian and Papuan number names and systems – ongoing study to determine their relationships and distribution]
• [http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/june/austronesianLanguageFamily.html Languages of the World: The Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) Language Family]
• {{YouTube|mYSr2k4buqU|Introduction to Austronesian Languages and Culture (video) (Malayo-Polynesian) Language Family}}
• [http://www.pro-classic.com/ethnicgv/maps/map_index.htm 南島語族分布圖] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140630020425/http://www.pro-classic.com/ethnicgv/maps/map_index.htm |date=2014-06-30 }}

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{{Austronesian languages}}

{{Language families}}

{{Eurasian languages}}

{{Language verbs}}

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Category:Language families

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Category:Languages of Oceania

Category:Sino-Austronesian languages