Kishiane Ysabelle L. Cabatic
EED112 – W12
BEED Language Education III
1. What is/are Austronesian language/s?
Austronesian languages, formerly Malayo-Polynesian languages, family of languages
spoken in most of the Indonesian archipelago; all of the Philippines, Madagascar, and the island
groups of the Central and South Pacific (except for Australia and much of New Guinea); much
of Malaysia; and scattered areas of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Taiwan. In terms of the
number of its languages and of their geographic spread, the Austronesian language family is
among the world’s largest.
With approximately 1,200 members, the Austronesian language family includes about
one-fifth of the world’s languages. Only the Niger-Congo family of Africa approaches it in
number of languages, although both the Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan language families
have considerably more speakers.
Before the European colonial expansions of the past five centuries, Austronesian
languages were more widely distributed than any others, extending from Madagascar just off
the southeast coast of Africa to Easter Island (Rapa Nui) some 2,200 miles west of Chile in
South America—across an astonishing 206 degrees of longitude. Most of the languages are
spoken within 10 degrees of the Equator, although some extend well beyond this, reaching as
far north as 25° N latitude in northern Taiwan and as far south as 47° S latitude on New
Zealand’s South Island.
Despite the enormous geographic extension of the Austronesian languages, the
relationship of many (though not all) of the languages can easily be determined by an inspection
of such basic subsystems as personal pronouns or the numerals.
The table presents names for the numbers 1 to 10 in the Paiwan language of
southeastern Taiwan, Cebuano Bisayan (Visayan) of the central Philippines, Javanese of
western Indonesia, Malagasy of Madagascar, Arosi of the southeastern Solomon Islands in
Melanesia, and Hawaiian.
Fourteen of the 21 or 22 Austronesian languages spoken by the pre-Chinese aboriginal
population of Taiwan (also called Formosa) survive. Siraya and Favorlang, which are now
extinct, are attested from fairly extensive religious texts compiled by missionaries during the
Dutch occupation of southwestern Taiwan (1624–62). All the roughly 160 native languages of
the Philippines are Austronesian, although it is likely that the now highly marginalized huntergatherer populations of Negritos originally spoke languages of other affiliations.
Approximately 110 Austronesian languages are spoken in Malaysia, mostly in the Bornean
states of Sabah and Sarawak. In mainland Southeast Asia some 7 or 8 Austronesian languages
belonging to the close-knit Chamic group are spoken in Vietnam, in Cambodia, in border
regions of Laos, and on Hainan Island in southern China. Malagasy generally is regarded as a
single language, although it may have as many as 20 dialects, some of which approach the
dialect-language limit. The remaining 900 Austronesian languages are about equally divided
among Indonesia (including the western half of the large island of New Guinea) and the Pacific
islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. The great majority of Austronesian languages
in the Pacific are found in Melanesia, particularly in coastal areas of New Guinea and the
islands of the Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain, New Ireland, the Admiralty Islands). The
Austronesian languages of Melanesia are often found closely interspersed with an older
population of non-Austronesian languages, collectively known as Papuan. With few exceptions
the Austronesian languages of Melanesia tend to be spoken in coastal areas and on small
offshore islands.
Major Austronesian languages include Cebuano, Tagalog, Ilocano, Hiligaynon, Bicol,
Waray-Waray, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan of the Philippines; Malay, Javanese, Sundanese,
Madurese, Minangkabau, the Batak languages, Acehnese, Balinese, and Buginese of western
Indonesia; and Malagasy of Madagascar. Each of these languages has more than one million
speakers. Javanese alone accounts for about one-quarter of all speakers of Austronesian
languages, which is a remarkable disparity in view of the total number of languages in this
family. In eastern Indonesia the average number of speakers per language drops to a few tens
of thousands and in western Melanesia to fewer than a thousand. In the central Pacific, where
the average number of speakers per language again increases to more than 100,000, the major
languages include Fijian, Samoan, and Tongan.
Tagalog forms the basis of Pilipino, the national language of the Philippines, and the
Merina dialect of Malagasy, which is spoken in the highlands around the capital of
Antananarivo, forms the basis for standard Malagasy. Hindu-Buddhist polities, based on Indian
concepts of the state, arose in parts of the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra during the first few
centuries of the Christian era and somewhat later in Java. As a result of these contact influences,
Sanskrit loanwords entered Malay and Javanese in large numbers. Many Philippine languages
also contain substantial numbers of Sanskrit loans, even though no part of the Philippines was
ever Indianized. It is generally agreed that these and the later Arabic and Persian loanwords
that are found in Philippine languages were transmitted through the medium of Malay.
It is now widely agreed, following the pioneering thesis of the Norwegian linguist Otto
Christian Dahl, that Madagascar was settled by immigrants from southeastern Borneo
sometime between the 7th and 13th centuries CE. The presence of Sanskrit loans in Malagasy
suggests that the movement to Madagascar took place after the beginnings of Indianization in
western Indonesia, while the presence of some Arabic loans that show distinctive Malay
adaptations suggests that contact between Madagascar and Malay-speaking portions of western
Indonesia may have continued after the initial migration from Southeast Asia.
Of all Austronesian languages, Malay—which is native to the Malay Peninsula,
adjacent portions of southern and central Sumatra, and some smaller neighbouring islands—
probably has had the greatest political importance. Three stone inscriptions associated with the
Indianized state of Srivijaya in southern Sumatra and bearing the dates 683, 684, and 686 CE
are written in a language generally called Old Malay. After the introduction of Islam at the end
of the 13th century, Malay-speaking sultanates were established not only in the Malay-speaking
region of the Malay Peninsula but also in Brunei on the coast of northwestern Borneo. In other
areas, such as Aceh of northern Sumatra, the Sulu Archipelago of the southern Philippines, and
Ternate and Tidore of the northern Moluccas, Islamic sultanates made use of local languages,
but the large number of Malay loanwords in these languages suggests that Malay-speaking
missionaries must have played an important part in their establishment.
2. What are the 12 major Philippine languages?
1.) Tagalog - Tagalog (Filipino) belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the
Austronesian language family. The name of the language is derived from tagá-ílog,
from tagá– ‘native’+ ílog ‘river’. It is the sixth most-spoken language in the U.S.
and the lingua franca of Filipinos anywhere in the world. Tagalog was originally
native to the southern part of Luzon, prior to spreading as a second language over
all the islands of the Philippine archipelago, due to its selection as the basis for
Filipino, the national language of the Philippines, in 1937 and to the fact that
Tagalog is spoken in the Philippine capital of Manila, the largest city of the country.
From 1961 to 1987, Tagalog was also known as Pilipino. In 1987, the name was
changed to Filipino. Tagalog is one of the major languages of the Republic of the
Philippines. It functions as its lingua franca and de facto national working language
of the country. It is used as the basis for the development of Filipino, the national
language of the Philippines, a country with 181 documented languages. It is spoken
in central and southern Luzon, in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, and on some
of the other islands. Many Filipinos who are fluent in English frequently switch
between Tagalog and English for a variety of reasons. This mixed language is called
Taglish. It is more common among educated city dwellers than in rural areas.
Frequent contact between Tagalog-speaking and Spanish-speaking people during
the Spanish occupation of the Philippines has resulted in Philippine Creole Spanish
known as Chabacano. Since 1940, Filipino has been taught in schools throughout
the Philippines. Tagalog is also the language of major literary works, of films, and
of the media.
2.) Kapampangan - Kapampangan or Pampangan is an Austronesian language, and one
of the major languages of the Philippines. It is the primary and predominant
language of the entire province of Pampanga and southern Tarlac, on the southern
part of Luzon's central plains geographic region, where the Kapampangan ethnic
group resides. Kapampangan is also spoken in northeastern Bataan, as well as in the
municipalities of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, and Zambales that border Pampanga. It is
further spoken as a second language by a few Aeta groups in the southern part of
Central Luzon. The language is known honorifically as Amánung Sísuan
("breastfed, or nurtured, language").
3.) Pangasinense - Pangasinese is spoken by about 1.5 million people mainly in the
province of Pangasinan, where it is the official regional language, on the west side
of the island of Luzon in the Philippines. There are also Pangasinan speakers in
other parts of the Philippines, particularly in the province of Benguet, and in some
areas of Zambales, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya and Ifugao, as well as by
immigrant communities in the USA. Pangasinense is an Austronesian language
belonging to the Philippine branch of Malayo-Polynesian languages, and is most
closely related to Ibaloi, which is spoken in the neighboring province of Benguet
and Baguio City, and also similar to Tagalog and Iloko. Since the Spanish conquest
of 1571, Pangasinan has been written with the Latin alphabet. Before then it was
written with the Pangasinense script, which is related to the Tagalog script, and
other scripts of the Philippines.