The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers, spoken by Austronesian peoples outside Taiwan across island Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, with Malagasy on Madagascar as the furthest western outlier.
Facts
RegionIsland nations of Southeast Asia (Indonesia and the Philippine Archipelago) and the Pacific Ocean, with a smaller number of speakers in continental Asia near the Malay Peninsula, Cambodia, Vietnam and Hainan; Malagasy on Madagascar is the furthest western outlier. 1 Speaker Count Disputed
Proto-Language StatusConsists of many small local clusters; only the Oceanic subgroup is universally accepted as a valid group, with its ancestor Proto-Oceanic fully reconstructed, while every other proposed large subgroup within Malayo-Polynesian remains controversial. 1 Connections
Ancestor Of
Celebic is a primary branch of Malayo-Polynesian spoken across most of Sulawesi.
Why this is disputed. Central Malayo-Polynesian is a proposed branch grouping the Malayo-Polynesian languages of the Lesser Sundas and southern Moluccas; the coherence of the node itself is debated even though its membership in Malayo-Polynesian is not.
Why this is disputed. Central Philippine is a major branch of the Philippine languages, here linked directly to Malayo-Polynesian; the intermediate Philippine-languages and Greater Central Philippine nodes are not yet represented as their own entities in this atlas, so this row skips a rank rather than inventing the intermediate.
Why this is disputed. Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian is the traditional grouping uniting Central Malayo-Polynesian with Eastern Malayo-Polynesian; like Central Malayo-Polynesian itself, the node's internal coherence is debated in current Austronesian scholarship even though its membership in Malayo-Polynesian is not.
Eastern Malayo-Polynesian groups the Oceanic and South Halmahera-West New Guinea branches within Malayo-Polynesian, itself the largest branch of Austronesian.
Why this is disputed. Western Malayo-Polynesian is a widely used geographic cover term for the non-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages of the Philippines, western Indonesia and mainland Southeast Asia; most current classifications treat it as a geographic convenience rather than a genuine genetic node, so it is recorded here as descending from Malayo-Polynesian with that caveat.
Descends From
Malayo-Polynesian is the branch of Austronesian that spread beyond Taiwan across island Southeast Asia, Madagascar and the Pacific.
Includes
Source Balinese language, Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: Cebuano Language
Source Wikipedia: Hawaiian Language
Source Hiligaynon language, Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: Ilocano Language
Source Wikipedia: Malagasy Language
Source Maori language (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Samoan Language
Source Wikipedia: Sundanese Language
Source Tongan language, Wikipedia
Source Waray language, Wikipedia
In the Other Atlases
Includes
Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.
Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.
Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.
Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.
Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.
Also in Divinity Atlas: included in this subject.
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Source Wikipedia: Malayo-Polynesian LanguagesLead sentence 2tier 2Quote, Lead sentence 2
The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeast Asia (Indonesia and the Philippine Archipelago) and the Pacific Ocean, with a smaller number in continental Asia in the areas near the Malay Peninsula, with Cambodia, Vietnam and the Chinese island Hainan as the northwest geographic outlier.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Source Wikipedia: Malayo-Polynesian LanguagesLead sentence 2tier 2Quote, Lead sentence 2
The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeast Asia (Indonesia and the Philippine Archipelago) and the Pacific Ocean, with a smaller number in continental Asia in the areas near the Malay Peninsula, with Cambodia, Vietnam and the Chinese island Hainan as the northwest geographic outlier.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Malayo-Polynesian Languages
Wikimedia FoundationIntroduction, first sentence
The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers.
Introduction, second sentence
in the island nations of Southeast Asia (Indonesia and the Philippine Archipelago) and the Pacific Ocean, with a smaller number in continental Asia in the areas near the Malay Peninsula, with Cambodia, Vietnam and the Chinese island Hainan as the northwest geographic outlier
Classification, Internal classification section, first sentence
Malayo-Polynesian consists of a large number of small local language clusters, with the one exception being Oceanic, the only large group which is universally accepted; its parent language Proto-Oceanic has been reconstructed in all aspects of its structure
Introduction, first sentence, speaker-count clause
approximately 385.5 million speakers
View the Source Wikidata: Malayo-Polynesian
Wikidata Q143158, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Wikipedia: Hawaiian Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Hawaiian, Infobox: fam2Quote, Includes: Hawaiian, Infobox: fam2
Malayo-Polynesian
Wikipedia: Malagasy Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Malagasy, Infobox: fam2Quote, Includes: Malagasy, Infobox: fam2
Malayo-Polynesian
Wikipedia: Cebuano Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Cebuano, Infobox, Language familyQuote, Includes: Cebuano, Infobox, Language family
Malayo-Polynesian
Wikipedia: Ilocano Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Ilocano, Infobox, Language familyQuote, Includes: Ilocano, Infobox, Language family
Malayo-Polynesian
Wikipedia: Samoan Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Samoan, Infobox, Language familyQuote, Includes: Samoan, Infobox, Language family
Malayo-Polynesian
Wikipedia: Sundanese Language
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Sundanese, Infobox: fam2Quote, Includes: Sundanese, Infobox: fam2
Malayo-Polynesian
Balinese language, Wikipedia
Includes: Balinese, Infobox: fam2Quote, Includes: Balinese, Infobox: fam2
Malayo-Polynesian
Hiligaynon language, Wikipedia
Includes: Hiligaynon, Infobox: fam2Quote, Includes: Hiligaynon, Infobox: fam2
Malayo-Polynesian
Tongan language, Wikipedia
Includes: Tongan, Infobox: fam2Quote, Includes: Tongan, Infobox: fam2
Malayo-Polynesian
Waray language, Wikipedia
Includes: Waray, Infobox, Language familyQuote, Includes: Waray, Infobox, Language family
Malayo-Polynesian
Maori language (Wikipedia)
Includes: Maori, Infobox: fam2Quote, Includes: Maori, Infobox: fam2
Malayo-Polynesian
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