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Austronesian Language
The Austronesian languages ( ) are a language family widely spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, parts of Mainland Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan (by Taiwanese indigenous peoples). They are spoken by about 328 million people (4.4% of the world population). This makes it the fifth-largest language family by number of speakers. Major Austronesian languages include Malay (around 250–270 million in Indonesia alone in its own literary standard named "Indonesian"), Javanese, Sundanese, Tagalog (standardized as Filipino), Malagasy and Cebuano. According to some estimates, the family contains 1,257 languages, which is the second most of any language family. In 1706, the Dutch scholar Adriaan Reland first observed similarities between the languages spoken in the Malay Archipelago and by peoples on islands in the Pacific Ocean. In the 19th century, researchers (e.g. Wilhelm von Humboldt, Herman van der Tuuk) started to apply the compa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south. It has an area of , with mountain ranges dominating the eastern two-thirds and plains in the western third, where its Urbanization by country, highly urbanized population is concentrated. The combined Free area of the Republic of China, territories under ROC control consist of list of islands of Taiwan, 168 islands in total covering . The Taipei–Keelung metropolitan area, largest metropolitan area is formed by Taipei (the capital), New Taipei City, and Keelung. With around 23.9 million inhabitants, Taiwan is among the List of countries and dependencies by population density, most densely populated countries. Tai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tsouic Languages
The Tsouic languages (also known as the Central Formosan languages) are three Formosan languages, Tsou proper and the Southern languages Kanakanavu and Saaroa. The Southern Tsouic languages of Kanakanavu and Saaroa have the smallest phonemic inventories out of all the Formosan languages, with each language having only 13 consonants and 4 vowels (Blust 2009:165).Blust, Robert A. ''The Austronesian Languages''. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, 2009. , . These two languages are highly endangered, as many Southern Tsouic speakers are shifting to Bunun and Mandarin Chinese. The Proto-Tsouic language was reconstructed by Japanese linguist Shigeru Tsuchida in 1976, and is supported by Blust (1999), Li (2008), and Sagart (2014). However, Chang (2006)Chang, Henry Yungli. 2006. "Rethinking the Tsouic Subgroup Hypothesis: A Morphosyntactic Perspective." In Chang, H., Huang, L. M., Ho, D. (eds.). ''Streams converg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cebuano Language
Cebuano ( )Cebuano on Merriam-Webster.com is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language spoken in the southern Philippines by Cebuano people and other Ethnic groups in the Philippines, ethnic groups as a secondary language. It is natively, though informally, called by the generic name Bisayâ (), or Binisayâ () (both terms are translated into English as ''Visayan'', though this should not be confused with other Bisayan languages) and sometimes referred to in English sources as Cebuan ( ). It is spoken by the Visayans, Visayan ethnolinguistic groups native to the islands of Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, the eastern half of Negros Island, Negros, the western half of Leyte, the northern coastal areas of Northern Mindanao and the eastern part of Zamboanga del Norte due to Captaincy General of the Philippines, Spanish settlements during the 18th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malagasy Language
Malagasy ( ; ; Sorabe: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language and dialect continuum spoken in Madagascar. The standard variety, called Official Malagasy, is one of the official languages of Madagascar, alongside French language, French. Malagasy is the westernmost Austronesian language, brought to Madagascar with the settlement of Austronesian peoples, Austronesian speakers from the Sunda Islands (about 7,300 kilometres or 4,500 miles away) around the 5th century AD or perhaps between the 7th and 13th centuries. The Malagasy language is one of the Barito languages and is most closely related to the Maʼanyan language, still spoken on Borneo. Malagasy also includes numerous Malay language, Malay loanwords, from the time of the early Austronesian settlement and trading between Madagascar and the Sunda Islands. After , Malagasy incorporated numerous Bantu languages, Bantu and Arabic language, Arabic loanwords brought over by traders and new settlers. Malagasy is spok ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Filipino Language
Filipino ( ; , ) is the national language of the Philippines, the main lingua franca, and one of the two official languages of the country, along with Philippine English, English. It is only a ''de facto'' and not a ''de jure'' standard language, standardized form of the Tagalog language, as spoken and written in Metro Manila, the National Capital Region, and in other urban centers of the archipelago. The Constitution of the Philippines, 1987 Constitution mandates that Filipino be further enriched and developed by the other languages of the Philippines. Filipino, like other Austronesian languages, commonly uses Verb–subject–object, verb-subject-object order, but can also use subject-verb-object order. Filipino follows the Symmetrical voice, trigger system of morphosyntactic alignment that is common among Philippine languages. It has Head-directionality parameter, head-initial directionality. It is an agglutinative language but can also display inflection. It is not a Tone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tagalog Language
Tagalog ( ,According to the ''OED'' anMerriam-Webster Online Dictionary ; ''Baybayin'': ) is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by the ethnic Tagalog people, who make up a quarter of the population of the Philippines, and as a second language by the majority, mostly as or through Filipino language, Filipino. Its de facto Standard language, standardized and codified form, officially named ''Filipino'', is the national language of the Philippines, and is one of the nation's two official languages, alongside Philippine English, English. Tagalog, like the other and as one of the regional languages of the Philippines, which majority are Austronesian languages, Austronesian, is one of the auxiliary official languages of the Philippines in the regions and also one of the auxiliary media of instruction therein. Tagalog is closely related to other Philippine languages, such as the Bikol languages, the Bisayan languages, Ilocano language, Ilocano, Kapampangan language, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
