The Barito languages are around twenty Austronesian languages of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

(

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and e ...

), Southern Philippines, plus Malagasy, the national language of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...

. They are named after the

Barito River The Barito River is the second longest river in Borneo after the Kapuas River with a total length of and with a drainage basin of in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. It originates in the Muller Mountain Range, from where it flows southward in ...

located in

South Kalimantan South Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Selatan) is a province of Indonesia. It is the smallest province in Kalimantan, the Indonesian territory of Borneo. The provincial capital was Banjarmasin until 15 February 2022 when it was legally moved to B ...

, Indonesia. The Barito subgroup was first proposed by Hudson (1967), comprising the three branches ''East Barito'', ''West Barito'', and ''Mahakam (Barito–Mahakam)''. It is thought by some to be a ''

Sprachbund A sprachbund (, lit. "language federation"), also known as a linguistic area, area of linguistic convergence, or diffusion area, is a group of languages that share areal features resulting from geographical proximity and language contact. The lan ...

'' rather than a genuine

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English ter ...

. For example, Adelaar (2005) rejects Barito as a valid group despite accepting less traditional groups such as North Bornean and

Malayo-Sumbawan The Malayo-Sumbawan languages are a proposed subgroup of the Austronesian languages that unites the Malayic and Chamic languages with the languages of Java and the western Lesser Sunda Islands (western Indonesia), except for Javanese (Adelaar ...

. The Malagasy language originates from the Southeast Barito languages, and Ma'anyan is its closest relative, with numerous Malay (close to Indonesian) and Javanese loanwords. It known that Ma'anyan people were brought as labourers and slaves by Malay and Javanese people in their trading fleets, which reached Madagascar by ca. 50–500 AD.

Greater Barito

Blust (2006) proposes that the Sama-Bajaw languages also derive from the Barito lexical region, though not from any established group, and ''Ethnologue'' has followed, calling the resulting group 'Greater Barito'. Smith (2017, 2018)Smith, Alexander. 2017.
The Languages of Borneo: A Comprehensive Classification
'. PhD Dissertation: University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.Smith, Alexander D. 2018
The Barito Linkage Hypothesis, with a Note on the Position of Basap
''JSEALS'' Volume 11.1 (2018). proposes a Greater Barito linkage with the following branches, and considers Basap to be a sister of the Greater Barito linkage, forming a ''Basap–Greater Barito'' group. *Basap–Greater Barito ** Basap **Greater Barito ***Northwest Barito (Kadorih, Siang, Murung) ***Southwest Barito ( Ngaju, Kapuas, Bakumpai) *** Sama–Bajaw ( Yakan, etc.) ***Southeast Barito ( Ma'anyan, Dusun Witu, Malagasy) ***Central-East Barito ( Dusun Malang, Dusun Bayang, Paku, Semihim) ***Northeast Barito ( Taboyan, Lawangan, Bentian, Pasir, Benuaq) *** Tunjung The earlier groupings East Barito (comprising Smith's Southeast Barito, Central-East Barito and Northeast Barito) and West Barito (comprising Southwest Barito and Northwest Barito) are rejected by Smith.

West Kalimantan groups

Some Barito-speaking Dayak ethnic subgroups and their respective languages in

West Kalimantan West Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Barat) is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital city is Pontianak. The province has an area of 147,307&nbs ...

province, Indonesia:Bamba, John (ed.) (2008). ''Mozaik Dayak keberagaman subsuku dan bahasa Dayak di Kalimantan Barat''.

Pontianak Pontianak or Khuntien is the capital of the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, founded first as a trading port on the island of Borneo, occupying an area of 118.31 km2 in the delta of the Kapuas River at a point where it is joined ...

: Institut Dayakologi. .Istiyani, Chatarina Pancer (2008). ''Memahami peta keberagaman subsuku dan bahasa Dayak di Kalimantan Barat''. Institut Dayakologi. :

References

{{authority control Basap–Barito languages Languages of Madagascar Languages of Indonesia