Austronesian languages

WRITTEN BY:

 Robert Andrew Blust

LAST UPDATED: Jul 30, 2018 See Article History

Austronesian languages, formerly Malayo-Polynesian languages, family of languages spoken in most

of the Indonesian archipelago; all of the Philippines, Madagascar, and the island groups of the
Central and South Pacific (except for Australia and much of New Guinea); much of Malaysia; and
scattered areas of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Taiwan. In terms of the number of its languages
and of their geographic spread, the Austronesian language family is among the world‘s largest.
General Considerations

Size and geographic scope

With approximately 1,200 members, the Austronesian language family includes about one-fifth of the
world‘s languages. Only the Niger-Congo family of Africa approaches it in number of languages,
although both the Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan language families have considerably more
speakers.

Before the European colonial expansions of the past five centuries, Austronesian languages were
more widely distributed than any others, extending from Madagascar just off the southeast coast of
Africa to Easter Island (Rapa Nui) some 2,200 miles west of Chile in South America—across an
astonishing 206 degrees of longitude. Most of the languages are spoken within 10 degrees of
the Equator, although some extend well beyond this, reaching as far north as 25° N latitude in
northern Taiwanand as far south as 47° S latitude on New Zealand‘s South Island.
Despite the enormous geographic extension of the Austronesian languages, the relationship of many
(though not all) of the languages can easily be determined by an inspection of such basic
subsystems as personal pronouns or the numerals. The

Table presents names for the

numbers 1 to 10 in the Paiwan language of southeastern Taiwan, Cebuano Bisayan (Visayan) of the
central Philippines, Javanese of western Indonesia, Malagasy of Madagascar, Arosi of the
southeastern Solomon Islands in Melanesia, and Hawaiian.
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). All the roughly 160 native languages of the Philippines are
Austronesian, although it is likely that the now highly marginalized hunter-gatherer populations of
Negritos originally spoke languages of other affiliations. Approximately 110 Austronesian languages
are spoken in Malaysia, mostly in the Bornean states of Sabah and Sarawak. In mainland Southeast
Asia some 7 or 8 Austronesian languages belonging to the close-knit Chamic group are spoken in
Vietnam, in Cambodia, in border regions of Laos, and on Hainan Island in southern China. Malagasy
generally is regarded as a single language, although it may have as many as 20 dialects, some of
which approach the dialect-language limit. The remaining 900 Austronesian languages are about
equally divided among Indonesia(including the western half of the large island of New Guinea) and
the Pacific islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The great majority of Austronesian
languages in the Pacific are found in Melanesia, particularly in coastal areas of New Guinea and the
islands of the Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain, New Ireland, the Admiralty Islands). 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.

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. Each of these languages has
more than one million speakers. Javanese alone accounts for about one-quarter of all speakers of
Austronesian languages, which is a remarkable disparity in view of the total number of languages in
this family. In eastern Indonesia the average number of speakers per language drops to a few tens of
thousands and in western Melanesia to fewer than a thousand. In the central Pacific, where the
average number of speakers per language again increases to more than 100,000, the major
languages include Fijian, Samoan, and Tongan.
Tagalog forms the basis of Pilipino, the national language of the Philippines, and the Merina dialect of
Malagasy, which is spoken in the highlands around the capital of Antananarivo, forms the basis for
standard Malagasy. Hindu-Buddhist polities, based on Indian concepts of the state, arose in parts of
the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra during the first few centuries of the Christian era and somewhat
later in Java. As a result of these contact influences, Sanskrit loanwords entered Malay and Javanese
in large numbers. Many Philippine languages also contain substantial numbers of Sanskrit loans, even
though no part of the Philippines was ever Indianized. It is generally agreed that these and the later
Arabic and Persian loanwords that are found in Philippine languages were transmitted through the
medium of Malay.
It is now widely agreed, following the pioneering thesis of the Norwegian linguist Otto Christian Dahl,
that Madagascar was settled by immigrants from southeastern Borneo sometime between the 7th
and 13th centuries CE. The presence of Sanskrit loans in Malagasy suggests that the movement to
Madagascar took place after the beginnings of Indianization in western Indonesia, while the
presence of some Arabic loans that show distinctive Malay adaptations suggests that contact
between Madagascar and Malay-speaking portions of western Indonesia may have continued after
the initial migration from Southeast Asia.
Of all Austronesian languages, Malay—which is native to the Malay Peninsula, adjacent portions of
southern and central Sumatra, and some smaller neighbouring islands—probably has had the
greatest political importance. Three stone inscriptions associated with the Indianized state of Srivijaya
in southern Sumatra and bearing the dates 683, 684, and 686 CE are written in a language generally
called Old Malay. After the introduction of Islam at the end of the 13th century, Malay-speaking
sultanates were established not only in the Malay-speaking region of the Malay Peninsula but also in
Brunei on the coast of northwestern Borneo. In other areas, such as Aceh of northern Sumatra,
the Sulu Archipelagoof the southern Philippines, and Ternate and Tidore of the northern Moluccas,
Islamic sultanates made use of local languages, but the large number of Malay loanwords in these
languages suggests that Malay-speaking missionaries must have played an important part in their
establishment.
Fairly abundant palm-leaf manuscripts and inscriptions on stone or various metals constitute the
textual record for Old Javanese, a language associated with the Indianized states of eastern Java
from approximately the 9th to the 15th century. About half of the vocabulary of the Old Javanese
texts is of Sanskrit origin, although this material clearly reflects the language of the courts and almost
certainly would not have been representative of the common people.
The historical importance of both Tagalog and Malay probably was favoured by geographic
considerations. Tagalog is the language native to the region of Manila Bay. When the Spanish
initiated the 350-year-long Manila galleon trade in 1565 they found a preexisting trade network linking
Fukienese traders from southern China with the local native population and probably with some
Malay traders from western Indonesia. Malay was spoken on both sides of the strategic Strait of
Malacca between Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. When the India-China trade commenced at
approximately the start of the 1st century CE, the favoured sea route passed through the Strait of
Malacca, drawing the Malay-speaking populations of this region into a much wider network of
international commerce. When representatives of the Dutch East India Company arrived in Indonesia
at the beginning of the 17th century, they discovered that Malay served as a lingua franca in major
ports throughout the archipelago; the language has retained that role to the present day. It was thus
natural that Malay would be selected as the basis for the national language of Malaysia (Bahasa
Malaysia), Brunei (Bahasa Kebangsaan ‗national language‘), and Indonesia (Bahasa Indonesia). In
Indonesia speakers of Malay were far outnumbered by speakers of Javanese, but there Malay
offered a neutral alternative to the widely perceived threat of ethnic domination by the
overwhelming Javanese-speaking majority.
A similar geographic determinism favouring the rise of local languages to the status of lingua francas
can be seen on a smaller scale in Melanesia. Motu, centred in the important harbour of Port
Moresby in Papua New Guinea, was the medium through which the seasonal hiri(trading voyages)
took place across the 225-mile-wide Gulf of Papuabefore the arrival of Europeans. Under British
colonial rule a simplified form of Motu known as Hiri, or Police, Motu served as the language of the
territorial constabulary. Tolai, spoken natively around the important harbour town of Rabaul on the
island of New Britain, came under heavy contact influence from English in a 19th-century plantation
setting. The result was a creolized form of the language known as Melanesian Pidgin, or Tok Pisin,
today one of the national languages of Papua New Guinea.

Written documents
Pre-19th century
Pre-16th century
The earliest written documents in an Austronesian language are three Old Malay inscriptions from
southern Sumatra dating to the late 7th century. The earliest dated inscription in Cham, the language
of the Indianized kingdom of Champa in central Vietnam, bears a date of 829 CE, although some
undated inscriptions may be older. An Old Malay stone inscription from central Java is dated to
832 CE and attests to the high prestige of Malay in areas where it was not a native language.
Much of the early epigraphic material in Cham and Malay is heavily interlaced with Sanskrit, and
some inscriptions from Champa and southern Sumatra are entirely in Sanskrit. Material dating from
this time is written in any of several South Indian scripts. Sometime after the introduction of Islam and
before the end of the 13th century, the Arabic script also came into use for writing Malay and a few
other languages of western Indonesia. At the end of the 20th century almost all Austronesian
languages were written in a roman script, although the Arabic script (called Jawi in Malay) is still used
in certain contexts in Malay, Acehnese, and some other languages of western Indonesia.
16th–18th century
The earliest European documents on languages of the Austronesian family are two short vocabularies
collected by Antonio Pigafetta, the Italian chronicler of the Magellan expedition of 1519–22. Dutch
ships bound for insular Southeast Asia stopped to restock in Madagascar, and this contact resulted in
an almost immediate recognition of the relationship of Malagasy to Malay soon after the first Dutch
expedition reached Indonesia in 1596. During the 17th century the Dutch in Indonesia and Taiwan
and the Spanish in the Philippines and Guam compiled the first substantial descriptions of
Austronesian languages.
By the beginning of the 18th century the Dutch scholar Hadrian Reland was able to suggest an
eastward extension of Malay-like languages into the western Pacific. Following the three Pacific
voyages of James Cookfrom 1768 to 1780, the close similarity of the Polynesian languages to one
another—and their more general similarity to Malay—became widely known, although it was
mistakenly believed, largely on racial grounds, that the languages of Melanesia were not related to
those of Polynesia or to one another.
19th–20th century
Early classification work
By 1834 the British historian and linguist William Marsden was able to speak of languages such as
Malagasy and Malay as Hither Polynesian and of the languages of the central and eastern Pacific as
Further Polynesian, although he offered no name for the language family as a whole. The German
scholar Wilhelm von Humboldt is generally credited with coining the name Malayo-Polynesian,
although the word first appeared in print in an 1841 publication of his contemporary, the German
linguist Franz Bopp. Several decades later Robert Codrington, a leading English scholar of the
languages of Melanesia, objected to the designation Malayo-Polynesian on the grounds that it
excludes the darker-skinned peoples of Melanesia. He referred instead to the ―Ocean‖ family of
languages. In 1906 the Austrian anthropologist and linguist Wilhelm Schmidt proposed that
the Munda languages of eastern India and the Mon-Khmer languages of mainland Southeast Asia
form a language family, which he christened Austroasiatic (meaning ―southern Asian‖). Primarily on
the basis of similarities in verbal affixes, Schmidt further suggested that the Malayo-Polynesian
languages and the Austroasiatic languages form a superfamily that he designated Austric. In
accordance with his newly coined terminology he substituted Austronesian (meaning ―southern
islands‖) for the older family name. Both names were used extensively in the 20th century, although
since the mid-1960s the name Malayo-Polynesian has been restricted to various large subgroups of
Austronesian rather than applied to the language family as a whole.
The first analysis of Austronesian languages to make use of the comparative method of linguistics is
attributed to the Dutch-Indonesian scholar H.N. van der Tuuk, whose comparisons during the 1860s
and ‘70s showed that various languages in the Philippines and Indonesia could be related to a
common ancestor through recurrent similarities in the forms of words. Van der Tuuk‘s central
achievement in comparative linguistics was the establishment of what later came to be known as
the RGH law, or van der Tuuk‘s first law; it describes the recurrent sound correspondence of Malay /r/
to Tagalog /g/ and Ngaju Dayak /h/, as in Malay urat, which corresponds to Tagalog ugat and
Ngaju Dayak uhat‗vein.‘ In addition, van der Tuuk‘s grammar of the Toba Batak language of
northern Sumatra, published in two volumes between 1864 and 1867, stands as one of the earliest
attempts to represent a non-Western language in terms of inductively derived categories rather than
in terms of traditional Latin grammar. Despite his many achievements, however, van der Tuuk‘s work
included only languages in Indonesia and the Philippines. In the 1880s the Dutch Sanskrit
scholar Hendrik Kern began a series of studies that in principle encompassed the entire Austronesian
family, drawing on data from both island Southeast Asia and the Pacific. The first true systematizer in
the Austronesian field was the Swiss scholar Renward Brandstetter, whose work in the period 1906–15
led to the reconstruction of a complete sound system for what he called Original Indonesian and
the compilation of a very preliminary comparative dictionary. Like van der Tuuk, however,
Brandstetter worked only on the Austronesian languages of island Southeast Asia.
The work of Otto Dempwolff
The modern study of the Austronesian languages is generally traced to the German medical doctor
and linguist Otto Dempwolff, whose three-volume Comparative Phonology of Austronesian Word
Lists, published between 1934 and 1938, established a more complete sound system than that of
Brandstetter and further took account of languages in all the major geographic regions rather than
just insular Southeast Asia. Dempwolff also published the first comprehensive comparative dictionary
of Austronesian languages, with some 2,200 reconstructed words based on evidence from 11
modern languages: Tagalog, Toba Batak, Javanese, Ngaju Dayak, Malay, and Malagasy (which he
called Indonesian languages); Sa‘a and Fijian (called Melanesian languages); and Tongan, Futunan,
and Samoan (called Polynesian languages). Although Dempwolff‘s phonological reconstruction has
undergone considerable revision, especially in light of evidence from the aboriginal languages of
Taiwan, and although his comparative dictionary is now very much out of date, his work remains the
foundation for much of what has followed.
Classification And Prehistory

Major subgroups
Given the size of the Austronesian family, the subgrouping of the languages is a matter of some
importance, bearing on, among other things, the determination of the Austronesian homeland. Until
the 1930s the branches of Austronesian were customarily identified with purely geographic labels:
Indonesian, Melanesian, Micronesian, and Polynesian. The inadequacy of this subdivision is apparent;
Polynesian, for example, is known to encompass not only the languages of Polynesia but also
Polynesian Outlier languages of both Melanesia and Micronesia. Moreover, each of the other
geographically defined groups turns out to be a heterogeneous collection of languages that belong
to more than one linguistically defined group.
The first breakthrough in the subgrouping of the Austronesian languages was made by Dempwolff in
the second volume of his distinguished trilogy, where he concluded that the languages of Polynesia
and most of those of Melanesia and Micronesia share a number of innovative features that are most
plausibly attributed to changes in a single protolanguage, which he named Urmelanesisch (Proto-
Melanesian) and which is known today as Proto-Oceanic. The Oceanic hypothesis maintains that all
Austronesian languages east of a line that runs through Indonesian New Guinea at approximately
138° E longitude—except for Palauan and Chamorro of western Micronesia—are descended from a
single protolanguage spoken many generations after the initial breakup of Proto-Austronesian itself.
The major subgroups of Austronesian as generally recognized today are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: A subgrouping of the Austronesian languages, with the approximate number of languages in each group shown in parentheses.
AN = Austronesian family; F = Formosan, a cover term for perhaps six primary branches of the Austronesian family; MP = Malayo-Polynesian;
WMP = Western Malayo-Polynesian; CEMP = Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian; CMP = Central Malayo-Polynesian; EMP = Eastern Malayo-
Polynesian; SHWNG = South Halmahera–West–New Guinea; OC = Oceanic.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Formosan
The term Formosan language is not to be understood as representing a subgroup defined by
exclusively shared innovations. Rather, it is a collective term for a highly diverse collection of
languages, most of which share broad typological similarities with languages in the Philippines and
some other areas (such as Madagascar). The Yami language, which is spoken on Lan-yü (Botel
Tobago) island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan, forms a subgroup with Ivatan and Itbayaten in
the northern Philippines. The other 14 surviving aboriginal languages of Taiwan may fall into as many
as six primary branches of the language family, each one coordinate with the entire Malayo-
Polynesian branch. Under such circumstances very small subgroups or even single languages provide
an independent line of evidence for the nature of Proto-Austronesian that is theoretically equivalent
to the entire Malayo-Polynesian branch of some 1,180 member languages. Among the best-
described Formosan languages are Atayal (spoken in the northern mountains), Amis (spoken along
the narrow east coast), and Paiwan(spoken near the southern tip of the island); only superficial
descriptions are available for most of the other Formosan languages.
Western Malayo-Polynesian (WMP)
Although Western Malayo-Polynesian is a convenient cover term for the Austronesian languages of
the Philippines, western Indonesia (Borneo, Sumatra, Java-Bali-Lombok, Sulawesi), mainland
Southeast Asia, Madagascar, and at least Chamorro and Palauan in western Micronesia, it is in effect
a catchall category for the Malayo-Polynesian languages that do not exhibit any of the innovations
characteristic of Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian and may very well contain several primary
branches of Malayo-Polynesian. As mentioned previously, some of the largest and best-known
Austronesian languages—including Ilokano, Tagalog, Cebuano, Malay, Acehnese, Toba Batak,
Minangkabau, Sundanese, Javanese, Balinese, Buginese, Makasarese, and Malagasy—are Western
Malayo-Polynesian.
Central Malayo-Polynesian (CMP)
The Central Malayo-Polynesian languages are found throughout much of eastern Indonesia,
including the Lesser Sunda Islands from Sumbawa through Timor, and most of the Moluccas. Many of
the changes that define this linguistic group cover most of the languages but do not reach the
geographic extremes, and the group has therefore been questioned by some scholars. Few of the
languages are large or well-known, but those for which fuller descriptions are available
include Manggarai and Ngadha, spoken on the island of Flores; Roti, spoken on the island of the
same name; Tetum, spoken on the island of Timor; and Buruese, spoken on the island of Buru in the
central Moluccas.
South Halmahera–West New Guinea (SHWNG)
This small group of Austronesian languages is found in the northern Moluccan island of Halmahera
and in the Doberai Peninsula (also called Vogelkop or Bird‘s Head) of western New Guinea.
Preliminary descriptions exist only for Buli of Halmahera and Numfor-Biak and Waropen of western
New Guinea; most of the languages are known only from short word lists.
Oceanic (OC)
The Oceanic subgroup is the largest and best-defined of all major subgroups in Austronesian. It
includes all the languages of Polynesia, all the languages of Micronesia (except Palauan and
Chamorro), and all the Austronesian languages of Melanesia east of the Mamberamo River in
Indonesian New Guinea. Some of the better-known Oceanic languagesare Motu of southeastern
New Guinea, Tolai of New Britain, Sa‘a of the southeastern Solomons, Mota of the Banks Islands in
northern Vanuatu, Chuukese (Trukese) of Micronesia, Fijian, and many Polynesian languages,
including Tongan, Samoan, Tahitian, Maori, and Hawaiian. Yapese, long considered unplaceable,
now appears to be Oceanic, although its place within Oceanic remains obscure.

Lower-level subgroups
Philippine languages
One of several identifiable lower-level units within these major subgroups is the Philippine group within
Western Malayo-Polynesian. It consists of Yami, spoken on Lan-yü (Botel Tobago) island off the
southeastern coast of Taiwan; almost all the languages of the Philippine Islands; and the Sangiric,
Minahasan, and Gorontalic languages of northern Sulawesi in central Indonesia. The Samalan
dialects—spoken by the Sama-Bajau, the so-called sea gypsies in the Sulu Archipelago, and
elsewhere in the Philippines—do not appear to belong to the Philippine group, and their exact
linguistic position within the Austronesian family remains to be determined. Although the
term Philippine language or Philippine-type language has been applied to such languages as
Chamorro of the Mariana Islands or the languages of Sabah in northern Borneo, this label is
typological rather than genetic.
Polynesian languages
Perhaps the best-known lower-level subgroup of Austronesian languages is Polynesian, which is
remarkable for its wide geographic spread yet close relationship. The ―Polynesian triangle,‖ defined
by Hawaii, Easter Island, and New Zealand, encloses Polynesia proper, an area about twice the size
of the continental United States. In addition, some 18 Polynesian-speaking societies, the above-
mentioned Polynesian Outliers, are found in Micronesia and Melanesia.
The Polynesian languages generally are divided into two branches, Tongic (Tongan and Niue)
and Nuclear Polynesian (the rest). Nuclear Polynesian in turn contains Samoic-Outlier and Eastern
Polynesian. Maori and Hawaiian, two Eastern Polynesian languages that are separated by some
5,000 miles of sea, appear to be about as closely related as Dutch and German. The closest external
relatives of the Polynesian languages are Fijian and Rotuman, a non-Polynesian language spoken by
a physically Polynesian population on the small volcanic island of Rotuma northwest of the main
Fijian island of Viti Levu; together with Polynesian, Fijian and Rotuman form a Central Pacific group. A
number of proposals have been made regarding the immediate relationships of the Central Pacific
languages; the majority of these suggest a grouping of Central Pacific with certain languages in
central and northern Vanuatu, but these proposals remain controversial.
Nuclear Micronesian
Most of the languages of Micronesia are Oceanic, and, with the possible exception of Nauruan,
which is still poorly described, they form a fairly close-knit subgroup that is often called Nuclear
Micronesian. Palauan, Chamorro (Mariana Islands), and Yapese (western Micronesia) are not
Nuclear Micronesian languages; the former two appear to be products of quite distinct migrations
out of Indonesia or the Philippines, and, while Yapese probably is Oceanic, it has a complex history of
borrowing and does not readily seem to form a subgroup with any other language.
Aberrant languages
Yapese is one of several problematic languages that can be shown to be Austronesian but that
share little vocabulary with more typical languages. Other languages of this category are Enggano,
spoken on a small island of the same name situated off the southwest coast of Sumatra, and a
number of Melanesian languages. In the most extreme cases the classification of a language as
Austronesian or non-Austronesian has shifted back and forth repeatedly, as with the Maisin language
of southeastern Papua New Guinea (now generally regarded as an Austronesian language with
heavy contact influence from Papuan languages). Other controversial or aberrant languages are
Arove, Lamogai, and Kaulong of New Britain, Ririo and some other languages of the western
Solomons, Asumboa of the Santa Cruz archipelago, Aneityum and some other languages of southern
Vanuatu, several languages of New Caledonia, and Nengone and Dehu of the Loyalty Islands in
southern Melanesia. Atayal of northern Taiwan is an example of a language once considered to be
highly aberrant in vocabulary, but it is much less distinctive now that researchers have found that the
Squliq dialect (which was chosen as representative of Atayal) exhibits idiosyncratic changes owing to
a historical form of ―speech disguise‖ characteristic of men‘s speech. This feature is still preserved in
the Mayrinax dialect of the Cʔuliʔ dialect cluster.
Prehistoric inferences from subgrouping
The view, current from roughly 1965 to 1975, that Melanesia is the area of greatest linguistic diversity in
Austronesian and that the Austronesian homeland therefore must have been in Melanesia has been
shown to be inconsistent both with the comparative method of linguistics and with archaeological
indications that Austronesian speakers entered the western Pacific from island Southeast Asia about
2000 BCE. It has accordingly been abandoned by virtually all scholars.
Both linguistic and archaeological evidence point to an initial dispersal of Austronesian languages
from Taiwan several centuries after Neolithic settlers introduced grain agriculture, pottery making,
and domesticated animals to the island from the adjacent mainland of China about 4000 BCE. By
perhaps 3500 BCE, populations bearing a clear cultural resemblance to those in Taiwan had begun to
appear in the northern Philippines, and within a millennium similar material traces appear throughout
Indonesia. The linguistic evidence suggests a steady southward and eastward movement, with
Austronesian speakers moving around the northern coast of New Guinea into the western Pacific
about 2000 BCE. From the region of New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago settlers fanned out
very rapidly, crossing the sea with highly seaworthy outrigger canoes. In Oceania the dispersal of
Austronesian-speaking peoples is most closely associated archaeologically with the distribution of
Lapita pottery. Because the earliest Lapita sites in Fiji and western Polynesia are only three or four
centuries younger than the earliest dated Lapita site in western Melanesia, the colonization of
Melanesia as far east as Fiji appears to have been accomplished within 15 or 20 generations. There is
a puzzling thousand-year gap before the settlement of central and eastern Polynesia, with Hawaii
being settled only within the past 1,500–1,700 years and New Zealand within roughly the past
millennium.
The settlement history of Micronesia is more complex: Palau and the Mariana Islands were settled by
two migrations which were distinct from that associated with Lapita pottery. Most of the low coral
atolls of the Caroline Islands were settled by 2000 BP, but some radiocarbon dates from the Marshall
Islands suggest that Austronesian speakers may have reached the atolls of Micronesia not long after
the settlement of Fiji and western Polynesia.

External relationships
Speculation concerning the external relationships of Austronesian languages has ranged far and
wide. In the first half of the 19th century Bopp, who was a distinguished Indo-Europeanist, became
convinced of the relationship of Indo-European to Austronesian. This theme was taken up again in
the 1930s by Brandstetter. In 1942 the American linguist Paul K. Benedict initiated the Austro-
Tai hypothesis, a proposed connection between the Tai languages and various minority (Kadai)
languages on the mainland of Southeast Asia. Other researchers have proposed connections with
Japanese (as has Benedict himself), the Papuan languages of New Guinea, various American Indian
languages, Chinese, and Ainu. In short, almost every language family that might conceivably be
related to Austronesian simply on grounds of a priori geographic proximity has been proposed as a
relative, the one notable exception to date being Australian Aboriginal languages. Most of these
proposals are speculative and have not achieved a general following.
Benedict‘s Austro-Tai hypothesis has perhaps received the widest attention in recent years, as it has
been advocated in a large number of publications. However, in some ways the most compelling
hypothesis for a wider language grouping that includes Austronesian is the Austrichypothesis, linking
the Austroasiatic languages (the Munda languages of eastern India and the Mon-Khmer languages
of mainland Southeast Asia) with Austronesian. The original hypothesis, first proposed in 1906
by Wilhelm Schmidt and long neglected by most linguists, has been greatly strengthened by more
recent research.
Official Name

Population Full

Principal Languages

Literacy Rate

Immigrant Languages

General References

Deaf Population

Language Counts
 https://www.buzzfeed.com/aviannetan/like-hillary-clinton-is-a-
presidentiable?utm_term=.iiYMM1ZR1W#.ivo224JN4X
6 Filipino Words Now Officially Part Of The English Language
"Halo-halo," "balikbayan," and "comfort room" are among dozens of new Filipino words in the
Oxford English Dictionary.

The Oxford English Dictionary used this Filipino salutation, literally meaning "long live," to greet
readers in a blog post today announcing that dozens of Philippine English words are now
officially in the OED.

English has been spoken in the Philippines since it was first introduced to the archipelago by
US colonial government in the early 1900s, explained Danica Salazar, the Filipina author of
the post who's been pushing to include Filipino-coined words into the OED.

"Throughout the years, Filipino English speakers have been adapting the vocabulary of this
once foreign tongue, using it to express their own identity and way of life," Salazar wrote.
"Some of these unique lexical innovations have found their way into the OED for the very first
time in this latest update."

Here are 25 more Filipino words now added to the dictionary along with their meanings
quoted verbatim from the OED.
1. "Mabuhay"
2. "Balikbayan"- A Filipino visiting or
returning to the Philippines after a period of Literally 'each one pays their own,' used
living in another country.
A balikbayan box is a carton shipped or
brought to the Philippines from another
country by a Filipino who has been living
overseas, typically containing items such
as food, clothing, toys, and household
products.
3. "High-blood"-Angry, agitated.
4. "Sari-sari store"-A small neighbourhood
store selling a variety of goods.
5. "Estafa"-Criminal deception, fraud;
dishonest dealing.
6. "Despidida"-A social event honouring
someone who is about to depart on a
journey or leave an organization; a going-
away party
7. "Carnap"-To steal (a motor vehicle)
8. "Halo-halo"-A dessert made of mixed
fruits, sweet beans, milk, and shaved ice,
typically topped with purple yam, crème
caramel, and ice cream.
9. "Utang na loob"-A sense of obligation to
return a favour owed to someone.
10. "Comfort room"-A public toilet
11. "KKB" ("Kaniya-kaniyang bayad")-
especially to indicate that the cost of a
meal is to be shared
12. "Barong"-A lightweight, embroidered
shirt for men, worn untucked and
traditionally made of piña or a similar
vegetable fibre.
13. "Pan de sal"-A yeast-raised bread roll
made of flour, eggs, sugar and salt, widely
consumed in the Philippines, especially for
breakfast.
14. "Suki"-A buyer or seller involved in an
arrangement whereby a customer
regularly purchases products or services
from the same provider in exchange for
favorable treatment. Also: the
arrangement itself.
15. "Bahala na"- Expressing an attitude of
optimistic acceptance or fatalistic
resignation, esp. in acknowledging that the
outcome of an uncertain or difficult
situation is beyond one's control or is
preordained; 'que sera sera'. Hence, also
as a noun, an approach to life
characterized by this attitude.
16. "Presidentiable"-A person who is a likely flavoured with a sour ingredient such as
or confirmed candidate for president tamarind or guava.
17. "Baon" 21. "Kuya"-An elder brother. Also used as a
respectful title or form of address for an
Money, food, or other provisions taken to
older man.
school, work, or on a journey.
22. "Buko juice"-A drink made from the
18. "Mani-pedi"-A beauty treatment
clear watery liquid inside unripe coconuts;
comprising both a manicure and a
coconut water.
pedicure.
23. "Kikay"-A girl or woman interested in
The word, now used all over the world, was
first used by "renowned Filipino writer beauty products and fashion.
Kerima Polotan-Tuvera in an essay 24. "Barangay"-In the Philippines: a village,
published in 1972," the OED said. suburb, or other demarcated
19. "Dirty kitchen"-A kitchen where neighbourhood; a small territorial and
everyday cooking is done by household administrative district forming the most
staff, as distinct from a kitchen that is purely
local level of government.
for show or for special use by the owner of
the house. 25. "Barkada"-A group of friends.
20. "Sinigang"-In Filipino cookery: a type of 26. "Gimmick"-A night out with friends.
soup made with meat, shrimp, or fish and
https://news.abs-cbn.com/life/08/20/17/look-filipino-words-in-the-oxford-english-dictionary
LOOK: Filipino words in the Oxford English Dictionary
MANILA -- Did you know that more than 35 Filipino words have made it to the Oxford English
Dictionary?

In its 2016 update, words uniquely coined by Filipinos like ―aggrupation,‖ ―yaya,‖ and ―tabo‖
were added to the international dictionary.

In celebration of Buwan ng Wika, the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group takes a
look at some of the Filipino words that have become part of the English language through

the years. This word has long been used in Philippine

Advanced: Of a clock or watch: indicating
a time ahead of the correct time
(Philippine English)
This term is most likely an offshoot of Pinoys‘
tendency to be late for appointments—a
habit that they themselves dubbed ‗Filipino
time.‘ Wearing an ‗advanced‘ watch is
thus a way of avoiding being on ‗Filipino
time.‘
Aggrupation: (Philippine English) An
association or grouping, especially a
political organization; an affiliation formed
on the basis of common interests or
objectives.
political discourse, and in bills filed in
Congress and other official documents. But
the word ‗aggrupation‘ was only included
in the Oxford English Dictionary in 2016.
Bahala na: (Philippine English) Expressing
an attitude of optimistic acceptance or
fatalistic resignation, especially in
acknowledging that the outcome of an
uncertain or difficult situation is beyond
one's control or is preordained; Hence also
as n.: an approach to life characterized by
this attitude
Pinoys are known for their sense of humor
even through the worst disaster—an
attitude that often borders on fatalism. The
term ‗bahala na‘ succinctly encapsulates
this Pinoy characteristic of giving up to fate
the things beyond their control.
Balikbayan: (Philippine English) A Filipino
visiting or returning to the Philippines after a
period of living in another country.
With 2.2 million Filipinos working overseas
per the 2015 Census, nearly every Filipino
has a relative or knows someone working
abroad. Filipinos have thus coined the term
‗balikbayan‘ to refer to someone who
returns home from abroad. When a
balikbayan arrives, the whole clan—along
with the entire neighborhood—celebrate.
A balikbayan usually ships a ‗balikbayan
box‘ to the Philippines: a big box
containing food, clothes, toys,
kitchenware, and the like for family and
friends.
Batchmate: A member of the same
graduation class as another; a classmate
(chiefly S. Asian and Philippine English)
By putting together two English words:
‗batch‘ and ‗mate‘, Filipinos have coined
a new term to denote what in other
countries is simply called a ‗classmate‘.
Filipinos have an affinity with their
batchmates that often remains long after
graduation.
Carnap: To steal (a motor vehicle) (Now
chiefly Philippine English)
Carnapper: A person who steals a motor
vehicle; a car thief (Now chiefly Philippine
English)
These terms have been used in American
publications in the mid-20th century but
eventually fell out of use in the US. In the
Philippines however, these terms have
remained typical. The Philippine National
Police includes the
category ‘carnapping’ in its official crime
statistics. In 2016, the police have recorded
9,334 ‗carnapping‘ incidents in the
country.
Comfort room: (originally) a room in a
public building or workplace furnished with
amenities such as facilities for resting,
personal hygiene, and storage of personal
items (now rare); (later) a public toilet (now
chiefly Philippine English)
What the rest of the English-speaking world
refers to as a ―restroom‖ ―toilet‖ or
‖washroom‖ is a ‗comfort room‘ for
Filipinos. Like the word ‗carnap,‘ the term
‗comfort room‘ had already been used in
American publications but later fell out of
use.
Dirty Kitchen: (Philippine English) a kitchen
where everyday cooking is done by
household staff, as distinct from a kitchen
that is purely for show or for special use by
the owner of the house.
It is not uncommon for Filipino homes to
have two kitchens: a nice kitchen just for
show, to be used only on special occasions
by the owner of the house, and a second
‗dirty kitchen‘, where the household‘s daily
meals are prepared.
Gimmick: (Philippine English) a night out
with friends
Whereas the English definition of ‗gimmick‘
refers to a trick to attract attention, Filipinos
have coined a new meaning for this word
to refer to a night out with friends.
High blood: n. and adj. (a) n. colloq. high
blood pressure; hypertension; (b) adj.
(Philippine English) angry, agitated
In the Philippines, the English words ‗high‘
and ‗blood‘, when joined together, refers
to hypertension, as in high blood pressure.
But Filipinos also use the term to connote
feelings of anger and agitation.
Note: Not to be confused with ―high-
blooded,‖ which refers to someone of
noble descent or from a highly regarded
family.
Kikay: (Philippine English) n. A flirtatious girl
or woman. Also: a girl or woman interested
in beauty products and fashion
A woman who likes to shop for new clothes
and cosmetics is ‗kikay.‘ Filipinos also
created the hybrid term ‗kikay kit’ to refer
to a small case or bag to hold one‘s
toiletries and cosmetics.
Mabuhay: (Philippine English) An
exclamation of salutation or greeting: long
live ——! good luck (to you)! hurrah!
cheers!
A multipurpose term, ‗Mabuhay‘ is primarily
used as a greeting to guests, and as such,
has become a mark of Filipino hospitality. It
is also used as an exclamation for what in
English are the expressions ‗Long live!‘
‗Good luck!‘ ‗Hurrah!‘ or ‗Cheers!‘
Mani-pedi: colloq. (orig. Philippine English).
A beauty treatment comprising both a
manicure and a pedicure
According to the Oxford English Dictionary
Editorial, while the word ‗mani-pedi‘ is now
widely used all over the English-speaking
world, it was discovered to be of Philippine
origin. Filipino writer Kerima Polotan-Tuvera
first used the term in a 1972 essay.
Presidentiable: (Chiefly Philippine English) A
person who is a likely or confirmed
candidate for president
Every six years, Filipino voters elect their
next leader from among several
‗presidentiables.‘
From the English word ‗president,‘ Filipinos
have added the suffix –able to refer to a
candidate for President or a likely
candidate for the position.
Pulutan: (Philippine English) Food or snacks
provided as an accompaniment to
alcoholic drinks
Americans usually munch on peanuts while
drinking beer. Pinoys also love to drink beer
while munching on, well, an entire menu of
dishes collectively known as ‗pulutan.‘ Sisig
is a crowd favorite, but also deep-fried
pork intestines (chicharon bulaklak), fried
tofu, grilled pork, grilled seafood, and even
veggie sticks.
Salvage: (Philippine English) to apprehend
and execute (a suspected criminal)
without trial
Notwithstanding the formal meaning of
‗salvage‘ as being saved, this word was
used in the Philippines to refer to the
summary execution of a suspected
criminal, or the immediate killing of
someone accused of a crime without due
process. This word has become popular
again with the rise in the number of
suspected drug pushers and users killed
since last year.
Sari-sari store: (Philippine English) A small
neighborhood store selling a variety of
goods
A Filipino neighborhood is incomplete
without a ‗sari-sari store.‘ Filipinos have
coined this term from the word ‗sari‘, which
means ‗variety.‘ Don‘t be fooled by its
diminutive size though—a sari-sari store
offers nearly everything that a supermarket
and pharmacy offers—snacks and canned
goods, alcoholic drinks, cigarettes, even
medicines and toiletries—but sold per
piece or ‗tingi‘.
Tabo: (Philippine English) A dipper used to
scoop up water from a pail or bucket while
washing, traditionally made of coconut
shell or bamboo but now more commonly
made of plastic.
This permanent fixture in many Filipino the household so much so that when yaya
homes is a simple but functional is away, the entire household falls into
multipurpose tool that may be used for disarray.
bathing, washing clothes, cleaning the
house, and for washing one's bottom. Their nurturing ways and genuine concern
for the children they look after have
Yaya: (Philippine English) A woman endeared Pinoy yayas to families the world
employed by a family to look after a child, over. Prince William, celebrity chef
or a sick or elderly person. Anthony Bourdain, and Olympic gold
medalist Joseph Schooling have openly
In the Philippines, especially in urban areas, declared and demonstrated their
yayas have become an organic part of affection for their Pinoy yayas.
Other Filipino words or English words with Filipino meanings included in the Oxford English
Dictionary are: baon, barangay, barkada, barong, barong tagalog, baro’t saya, buko,
despedida, estafa, go down, halo-halo, KKB (kanya-kanyang bayad), kuya, pan de sal,
pasalubong, sinigang, suki, and utang na loob.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/isabellelaureta/kilig-sa- 20. Kundiman- Love song
harana?utm%20term=.bf2z13VvJ&utm_term=.igNXX
mWMmA#.crYggOwGOp 21. Amihan- northeast wind, breeze
22. Makisig- dshing, well-dressed, gorgeous
36 Of The Most Beautiful Words In The 23. Likha- to create something through
Philippine Language intelligence and skill
24. Dalisay- Pure, undiluted
1. Kilig- butterflies in one’s stomach
25. Kinaadman- knowledge, wisdom
2. Timpi- to control one's self
26. Pahimakas- last farewell
3. Tinatangi- special someone
27. Yugto- a fundamental transition or
4. Gunita- memory, recollection
development of a story or phenomenon
5. Kalinaw- serenity,tranquility
28. Halakhak- a lou, uninhibited laughter
6. Bughaw- blue
29. Gigil- uncontrollable urge to pinch or
7. Muni-muni- to think deeply, to ponder
squeeze someone
8. Silakbo- emotional outburst
30. Tadhana- and invisible force that makes
9. Pagsamo- the act of pleading
things happen beyond the control of
10. Indak- to dance in time with the music
mortals
11. Humaling- extreme fondness
31. Alpas- to become free, to break loose
12. Takipsilim- twilight, dusk
32. Tampo- the state of not being angry with
13. Harna- the act of wooing someone by
someone but not being affectionate either
serenading him or her
33. Mailap- Intractable, elusive, untamed
14. Balintataw- the pupil of the eye
34. Sapantaha- a hunch or presumption
15. Siping- to lie down beside someone
35. Sulit- Something that is worth it
16. Marahuyo- to be enchanted
36. Bayanihan- a spirit of communal unity and
17. Kaulayaw- a pleasant and intimate
cooperation
companion
18. Paraluman- a muse that inspires artistically
19. Habilin- anything given to somebody for
safekeeping