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 Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

(

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), plus Malagasy, the national language of

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, and the

Sama–Bajaw languages The Sama–Bajaw languages are a well-established group of languages spoken by the Sama-Bajau peoples (''A'a sama'') of the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Languages Grimes (2003) identifies nine Sama–Bajaw languages. #Balangingi (Ba ...

around the Sulu Archipelago. They are named after the Barito River located in

South Kalimantan South Kalimantan () is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is the second most populous province on the island of Kalimantan, the Indonesian territory of the island of Borneo after West Kalimantan. The provincial capital was Banjar ...

, 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 (, from , '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. Th ...

'' rather than a genuine

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

. For example, Adelaar (2005) rejects Barito as a valid group despite accepting less traditional groups such as North Bornean and Malayo-Sumbawan. The Malagasy language originates from the South East Borneo area (modern-day Indonesia), and it has been linked to Ma'anyan within the Southeast Barito group, with Malagasy incorporating numerous Indonesian- Malay and Javanese loanwords. It is 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. Based on linguistic evidence, it has been suggested that Malagasy was taken to East Africa between the 7th and 13th centuries. It is likely that a separate Malagasy speech community had already formed in Borneo before the early Malagasy migrants settled in Madagascar.

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 ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...

'' 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, Dusun Balangan, 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 () is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital and largest city is Pontianak. It is bordered by East Kalimantan and Central ...

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

Greater Barito

West Kalimantan groups

See also

References