Austronesian Linguistics

Abstract

Austronesian linguistics is the linguistic study of languages belonging to the Austronesian language family. The more than 1,200 Austronesian languages occupy a vast area. Traditionally, they are spoken in the Pacific in the area bounded by Hawaii in the northeast, Taiwan in the northwest, Easter Island in the southeast, New Zealand in the southwest, and Wallis Island in the south. In Southeast Asia they are spoken in the Philippines, in Brunei Darussalam, and in most parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, and East Timor. Minorities speaking Austronesian languages are also found in some regions in Vietnam, Kampuchea, southern Thailand, and coastal South Burma. Much farther to the west, speakers of Au..