also called Austronesian Languages, one of the world's largest language families, both in terms of numbers of languages—exceeding 500—and geographic spread—from Madagascar to Easter Island and Hawaii. The languages of Australia and most of New Guinea, however, are not part of this family.

Classification.

The Malayo-Polynesian languages are divided into an Indonesian or Western branch and an Oceanic or Eastern branch. The more than 200 languages of the Indonesian branch are spoken by about 150 million people in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Malagasy, and parts of Vietnam and Taiwan; for the major members of this branch of the languages, see INDONESIAN LANGUAGES,

The Oceanic or Eastern branch consists of about 300 languages spoken by about 1 million people on islands throughout the Pacific Ocean. The Oceanic languages fall into three groups: Polynesian, Micronesian, and Melanesian. Most of the approximately two dozen Polynesian languages are spoken within a large triangle bounded by Easter Island on the east, Hawaii on the north, and New Zealand on the south. Well-known Polynesian languages include Samoan, Tongan, Tahitian, Maori (spoken in New Zealand), and Hawaiian. They are remarkably uniform in grammar and phonology (but not vocabulary) and have rich vowel systems and few consonants. Their oral literature is extensive.

The roughly 200 Melanesian languages are spoken in a band of islands from New Guinea east to Fiji. Extremely diverse, they constitute a geographic group rather than one based on linguistic traits. Many Melanesian languages show striking changes from the hypothetical Proto-Oceanic language. Those of New Guinea were influenced by the non-Malayo-Polynesian Papuan languages.

The nine Micronesian languages are spoken in islands scattered north of Melanesia, between the Philippines and Polynesia. The seven most closely related form a subgroup called Nuclear Micronesian; this group, however, is somewhat more varied than the Polynesian group.

Origin.

It is now generally believed that the Malayo-Polynesian languages originated somewhere in Indonesia or New Guinea, were carried westward and eastward, and had spread throughout Oceania between 3000 and 2000 years ago.

Characteristics.

In general, the Malayo-Polynesian languages use affixes (suffixes, infixes, prefixes) attached to base words to modify the meaning or to indicate the function of the word in the sentence. In some languages, particularly in Polynesia, the affixes have become independent particles placed near the base word. Base words often have two syllables. Reduplication is used to indicate plural number and other changes of meaning. Thus, in Malay rumah means “house,” and rumah-rumah means “houses.” Verbal and nominal systems are often complex; in Pilipino, or Tagalog, for example, verbs have three forms of passive voice. Javanese and some other languages have forms of speech for specific social situations (such as informal or deferential). Malayo-Polynesian languages are written either in the Roman alphabet or in alphabets based on Indian and Arabic scripts.

English words of Malayo-Polynesian origin include taboo, tatoo, and ukelele (from Polynesian); amok, gingham, and kapok (from Malay); batik and junk (from Javanese); and boondocks, from Pilipino bundok, “mountain.”