Jump to content

List of major and official Austronesian languages

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Map showing the distribution of language families; the pink color shows where Austronesian languages are spoken.

This is a list of major and official Austronesian languages, a language family originating from Taiwan, that is widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia (Indonesia and Philippines) and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia and Madagascar.

Official languages

[edit]

Sovereign states

[edit]
Language Named national
varieties (if any)
Speakers Native name Official status
Fijian 639,210 Na Vosa Vakaviti Fiji
Tagalog Filipino[1] 100,000,000 (L1 & L2)
20,000,000 (L1)
80,000,000 (L2)
Wikang Filipino Philippines
Gilbertese 120,000 Taetae ni Kiribati Kiribati
Hiri Motu 120,000 (L2) Hiri Motu Papua New Guinea
Malay Indonesian[a] 252,000,000[3]-280,000,000 Bahasa Indonesia Indonesia
Malay[b] 35,000,000 Bahasa Melayu/بهاس ملايو Malaysia
Brunei
Singapore[6]
Malagasy 18,000,000 Fiteny Malagasy Madagascar
Māori 150,000 Te Reo Māori New Zealand
Marshallese 55,000 Kajin M̧ajeļ Marshall Islands
Nauruan 6,000 Dorerin Naoero Nauru
Palauan 15,000 Tekoi er a Belau Palau
Samoan 510,000 Gagana Sāmoa Samoa
Tetum 800,000 Lia-Tetun East Timor
Indonesia[c]
Tongan 108,000 Lea Faka-Tonga Tonga
Tuvaluan 13,000 Te Ggana/Gagana Tuuvalu Tuvalu
  1. ^ national standard based on variety spoken in Riau Archipelago[2]
  2. ^ A standardised Malay based on variety spoken in Johor sometimes referred to as Bahasa Malaysia (Malaysian language) in Malaysia[4][5]
  3. ^ apart from the national standard Indonesian language, Tetum has the status of a regional language in Belu Regency, East Nusa Tenggara

Territories

[edit]
Language Speakers Native name Official status Country
Carolinian 5,700 Refaluwasch Northern Mariana Islands United States
Chamorro 95,000 Fino' CHamoru Guam
Northern Mariana Islands
United States
Cook Islands Māori 14,000 Māori Kūki 'Āirani
Te Reo Ipukarea
Cook Islands New Zealand
Hawaiian 24,000 ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi Hawaii United States
Javanese ~3,000,000 Basa Jawa Yogyakarta[7] Indonesia
Kanak New Caledonia France
Niuean 8,000 Ko e Vagahau Niuē Niue New Zealand
Rapa Nui 5,000 Vananga Rapa Nui Easter Island Chile
Samoan 55,000 Gagana Sāmoa American Samoa United States
Sonsorolese 600 Ramari Dongosaro Sonsorol Palau
Tahitian 120,000 Te Reo Mā'ohi/Tahiti French Polynesia France
Tobian 100 Ramarih Hatohobei Hatohobei Palau
Tokelauan 3,500 Gagana Tokelau Tokelau New Zealand

Major languages

[edit]

Languages with at least 3 million native speakers

[edit]

Dialects and creoles

[edit]

Dialects of major Austronesian languages

[edit]

Creoles and pidgins based on Austronesian languages

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Executive Order no. 134: Proclaming the national language of the Philippines based on the "Tagalog" language". Official Gazette of the Philippine Government. December 30, 1937 – via Supreme Court E-Library, Supreme Court of the Philippines.
  2. ^ Asmah Haji Omar (1992). pp. 403–4.
  3. ^ List of major and official Austronesian languages at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025) Closed access icon
  4. ^ Lowenberg, Peter (1988). "Malay in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore: Three Faces of a National Language". In Coulmas, Florian (ed.). With Forked Tongues: What are National Languages Good For?. Ann Arbor, MI: Karoma. pp. 146–79. ISBN 978-0-89720-084-4.
  5. ^ Asmah Haji Omar (1992). "Malay as a pluricentric language". In Clyne, Michael G. (ed.). Pluricentric Languages: Differing Norms in Different Nations. Contributions to the sociology of language 62. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 402, 413–7. ISBN 3-11-012855-1.
  6. ^ "Constitution of the Republic of Singapore - Part 13: General Provisions". Singapore Statutes Online. Attorney-General's Chambers of Singapore.
  7. ^ "Perda No. 2 Tahun 2021 tentang Pemeliharaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa, Sastra, dan Aksara Jawa". peraturan.bpk.go.id. Retrieved 2025-04-07.
  8. ^ List of major and official Austronesian languages at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025) Closed access icon