Asian Geographic - April 2018

World Distribution of

Austronesian Speakers

water buffalo, and canoes – matching Neolithic

finds in Taiwan. Nine of the 10 Austronesian

language branches are Formosan languages

spoken exclusively in the mountainous state.

On the other hand, Malayo-Polynesian

languages are spoken by peoples in Southeast

Asia and Oceania – suggesting that their

ancestors could have been early Taiwanese

immigrants. This ties in with hypotheses by

FORMOSAN PHRASES

Kai bought a skirt.

Paiwan language

(Icu a kun ni Kai.)

What is this?

Tsou language

(Cuma na eni?)

I like this girl.

Puyuma language

(Sagar ku kan dini na

bu labu layan.)

Dongi ate this taro.

Amis language

(Kumaenan ni Dongi

kuni a tali.)

left The Amis har vest

festival. The Amis

are one of the largest

Austronesian ethnic

groups in Taiwan

historians that as the Formosan population

expanded, Austronesians emigrated

southward, sailing as far as Madagascar, Hawaii

and New Zealand.

Today, all the Formosan languages are

vulnerable to extinction. The remaining

speakers live mostly in East Taiwan, and more

than half have migrated from their traditional

villages to the cities. ag

DATA SOURCE: GREENHILL, BLUST AND GRAY (2008)

PHOTO © SHUTTERSTOCK

SOURCE: CHIH-CHEN JANE TANG

AUSTRALIA

TONGA

SAMOA TAHITI

EASTER

ISLAND

HAWAII

FIJI

SOLOMON

ISLANDS

PHILIPPINES

INDONESIA

MALAYSIA

MADAGASCAR

TAIWAN

NEW ZEALAND

MELANESIA

MICRONESIA

POLYNESIA

Pacific

Ocean

Indian

Ocean

LEGEND

Formosan

South Halmahera-West New Guinea

Western Malayo-Polynesian

Oceanic

Central Malayo-Polynesian