Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP) is the reconstructed ancestor of the

Malayo-Polynesian languages The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeas ...

, which is by far the largest branch (by current speakers) of the

Austronesian language family 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 b ...

. Proto-Malayo-Polynesian is ancestral to all Austronesian languages spoken outside

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 Ocea ...

, as well as the

Yami language The Yami language (), also known as Tao (), is a Malayo-Polynesian and Philippine language spoken by the Tao people of Orchid Island, 46 kilometers southeast of Taiwan. It is a member of the Ivatan dialect continuum A dialect continuum o ...

on Taiwan's

Orchid Island Orchid Island, known as Pongso no Tao by the indigenous inhabitants, is a volcanic island located off the southeastern coast of Taiwan, the island and the nearby are governed by Taiwan as in Taitung County, which is one of the county's two ...

. The first systematic reconstruction of

Proto-Austronesian Proto-Austronesian (commonly abbreviated as PAN or PAn) is a proto-language. It is the reconstructed ancestor of the Austronesian languages, one of the world's major language families. Proto-Austronesian is assumed to have begun to diversify in ...

("''Uraustronesisch''") by Otto Dempwolff was based on evidence from languages outside of

, and was therefore actually the first reconstruction of what is now known as Proto-Malayo-Polynesian.

Phonology

Consonants

The following consonants can be reconstructed for Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (Blust 2009): The phonetic value of the reconstructed sounds *p, *b, *w, *m, *t, *d, *n, *s, *l, *r, *k, *g, *ŋ, *q, *h was as indicated by the spelling. The symbols *ñ, *y, *z, *D, *j, *R are orthographic conventions first introduced by Dyen (1947). The assumed phonetic values are given in the table. This consonant system is quite similar to the ancestral

(PAN) system, but is characterized by three mergers: * PAN *t/*C > PMP *t * PAN *l/*N > PMP *l * PAN *h/*S > PMP *h

Vowels

The Proto-Austronesian vowels *a, *i, *u, *e (*e representing /ə/) and final diphthongs *ay, *aw, *uy, *iw remained unchanged.

Alternative views

In a study from 2016,

Roger Blench Roger Marsh Blench (born August 1, 1953) is a British linguist, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and is based in Cambridge, England. He researches, publishes, and work ...

Blench, Roger. 2016
The boiling pot: 4000 years ago in the Luzon straits
has raised doubts that there was actually a single unitary Proto-Malayo-Polynesian language. Rather, Malayo-Polynesian expansion across the

Luzon Strait The Luzon Strait (Tagalog: ''Kipot ng Luzon'', ) is the strait between Luzon and Taiwan. The strait thereby connects the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea in the western Pacific Ocean. This body of water is an important strait for shipp ...

consisted of multi-ethnic crews rapidly settling across various locations in

maritime Southeast Asia Maritime Southeast Asia comprises the Southeast Asian countries of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and East Timor. The terms Island Southeast Asia and Insular Southeast Asia are sometimes given the same meaning as ...

, as suggested by both archaeological and linguistic evidence. There was also a Malayo-Polynesian migration to

Hainan Hainan is an island provinces of China, province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally mean ...

; Blench (2016) notes that both Hlai and

Austronesian peoples The Austronesian people, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples who have settled in Taiwan, maritime Southeast Asia, parts of mainland Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melan ...

use the foot-braced backstrap loom as well.

Lexicon

Below are selected animal and plant names in Proto-Malayo-Polynesian from the ''Austronesian Comparative Dictionary''.

Animal names

Plant names

Notes

References

External links

ABVD: Proto-Malayo-Polynesian

{{Austronesian languages Austronesian languages

Malayo-Polynesian The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeast ...