The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately
385.5 million speakers.
The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian people of the island nations
of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, with a smaller number in continental Asia.
Malagasy is a geographic outlier, spoken in the island of Madagascar located off the eastern
coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean.
Part of the language family shows a strong influence of Sanskrit and particularly Arabic
as the Western part of the region has been a stronghold of Buddhism, Hinduism and since
the 10th century, Islam.
Two morphological characteristics of the Malayo-Polynesian languages is a system of affixation and the
reduplication to form new words.
Like other Austronesian languages they have small phonemic inventories; thus a text has
few but frequent sounds.
The majority also lack consonant clusters.
Most also have only a small set of vowels, five being a common number.
Languages The Philippine languages are spoken by 90
million people and include Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilokano, Hiligaynon, Bikolano, Waray-Waray,
and Kapampangan, each with at least three million speakers.
The most widely spoken Bornean language is Malagasy, with 20 million speakers.
The Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by about 230 million people and include
Malay, Sundanese, Javanese, Balinese, Acehnese; and also the Oceanic languages, including
Tolai, Gilbertese, Fijian, and Polynesian languages such as Hawaiian, Māori, Samoan,
Tahitian, and Tongan.
Classification The Malayo-Polynesian languages share several
phonological and lexical innovations with the eastern Formosan languages, including
the leveling of proto-Austronesian *t, *C to and *n, *N to , a shift of *S to , and
vocabulary such as *lima "five" which are not attested in other Formosan languages.
However, it does not align with any one branch.
A 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database suggests the closest connection
is with Paiwan, though it only assigns that connection a 75% confidence level.
Malayo-Polynesian consists of a large number of small local language clusters, with the
one exception being Oceanic, the only large group which has been reconstructed and is
indisputably valid.
All other large groups within Malayo-Polynesian are disputed.
The family has traditionally been divided into Western, Central, and Eastern branches.
However, there is little support for these groups; Central MP languages are distinctive
because they are typologically Melanesian due to substratum effects of the Papuan languages
of eastern Indonesia, as similarly are the Eastern MP languages, while the Western branch
is simply the branches which have not undergone such extensive contact-induced change.
Wouk and Ross proposed a Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian branch, based on a consistent simplification
of the Austronesian alignment in the syntax of the proto-Malayo-Polynesian language, which
is found throughout Indonesia apart from much of Borneo and the north of Sulawesi.
Because Nuclear MP included some Western MP languages along with Central–Eastern MP,
Wouk and Ross split Western MP into an "Inner" group on Sulawesi and the Sunda Islands, which
together with Central–Eastern formed Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian, and an "Outer" group on
Borneo and the Philippines.
Both are remnant groups with negative definitions: Outer WMP are those Malayo-Polynesian languages
which are not Nuclear MP; while Inner WMP are those Nuclear languages which are not
Central–Eastern MP, which is itself a dubious group.
Although Nuclear MP was defined using syntactic data, it finds moderate support from lexical
data.
Borneo–Philippine Malayo-Polynesian languages, or Outer Western MP languages.
Philippine languages.
Northern Philippine languages.
Greater Central Philippine languages.
Kalamian languages.
South Mindanao, or Bilic, languages.
Sangiric languages.
Minahasan languages.
Umiray Dumaget language.
Manide-Inagta languages.
Bornean languages.
North Bornean languages.
Kayan–Murik languages.
Land Dayak languages.
Barito languages.
Batanic languages: might belong to the Northern Philippine languages.
Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian languages.
Sunda–Sulawesi languages, or Inner Western MP languages.
Malayo-Sumbawan languages.
Northwest Sumatran languages.
Lampung language.
Celebic languages.
South Sulawesi languages.
Moken language.
Javanese language.
Hukumina language.
Palauan language.
Chamorro language.
Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages.
Central Malayo-Polynesian languages.
Sumba–Flores languages.
Flores–Lembata languages.
Selaru languages.
Kei–Tanimbar languages.
Aru languages.
Central Maluku languages.
Timoric, or Timor–Babar, languages.
Kowiai language.
Teor-Kur language.
Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages.
Halmahera–Cenderawasih languages.
Oceanic languages: approximately 450 languages.
Notes
References
External links 2008 Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database
analysis History.com Encyclopedia: Malayo-Polynesian
Languages