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This is a list of major and official Austronesian languages, a language family originating from Taiwan, that is widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia (Indonesia and Philippines) and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia and Madagascar.
| Language | Speakers | Native name | Official status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fijian | 639,210 | Na Vosa Vakaviti |  Fiji |
| Filipino | 100,000,000 (L1 & L2) 20,000,000 (L1) 80,000,000 (L2) | Wikang Filipino |  Philippines |
| Gilbertese | 120,000 | Taetae ni Kiribati |  Kiribati |
| Hiri Motu | 120,000 (L2) | Hiri Motu |  Papua New Guinea |
| Indonesian | 249,000,000 | Bahasa Indonesia |  Indonesia |
| Malay | 35,000,000 | Bahasa Melayu/بهاس ملايو |  Brunei Indonesia [a]  Malaysia [b]  Singapore |
| Malagasy | 18,000,000 | Fiteny Malagasy |  Madagascar |
| Māori | 150,000 | Te Reo Māori |  New Zealand |
| Marshallese | 55,000 | Kajin M̧ajeļ |  Marshall Islands |
| Nauruan | 6,000 | Dorerin Naoero |  Nauru |
| Palauan | 15,000 | Tekoi er a Belau |  Palau |
| Samoan | 510,000 | Gagana Sāmoa |  Samoa |
| Tetum | 800,000 | Lia-Tetun |  East Timor Indonesia [c] |
| Tongan | 108,000 | Lea Faka-Tonga |  Tonga |
| Tuvaluan | 13,000 | Te Ggana/Gagana Tuuvalu |  Tuvalu |
| Language | Speakers | Native name | Official status | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carolinian | 5,700 | Refaluwasch |  Northern Mariana Islands |  United States |
| Chamorro | 95,000 | Fino' CHamoru |  Guam Northern Mariana Islands | United States |
| Cook Islands Māori | 14,000 | Māori Kūki 'Āirani Te Reo Ipukarea |  Cook Islands | New Zealand |
| Hawaiian | 24,000 | ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi |  Hawaii | United States |
| Javanese | 100,000,000 approx.(~3,000,000 in the Special Region of Yogyakarta) | Basa Jawa |  Yogyakarta  Central Java  East Java | Indonesia  Suriname [a] [1]  Sri Lanka [b] [2]  New Caledonia [c] [3] |
| Kanak |  New Caledonia |  France | ||
| Niuean | 8,000 | Ko e Vagahau Niuē |  Niue | New Zealand |
| Rapa Nui | 5,000 | Vananga Rapa Nui |  Easter Island |  Chile |
| Samoan | 55,000 | Gagana Sāmoa |  American Samoa | United States |
| Sonsorolese | 600 | Ramari Dongosaro |  Sonsorol | Palau |
| Tahitian | 120,000 | Te Reo Mā'ohi/Tahiti |  French Polynesia | France |
| Tobian | 100 | Ramarih Hatohobei |  Hatohobei | Palau |
| Tokelauan | 3,500 | Gagana Tokelau |  Tokelau | New Zealand |
Indonesian is the official and national language of Indonesia. It is a standardized variety of Malay, an Austronesian language that has been used as a lingua franca in the multilingual Indonesian archipelago for centuries. With over 280 million inhabitants, Indonesia ranks as the fourth most populous nation globally. According to the 2020 census, over 97% of Indonesians are fluent in Indonesian, making it the largest language by number of speakers in Southeast Asia and one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Indonesian vocabulary has been influenced by various regional languages such as Javanese, Sundanese, Minangkabau, Balinese, Banjarese, and Buginese, as well as by foreign languages such as Arabic, Dutch, Portuguese, and English. Many borrowed words have been adapted to fit the phonetic and grammatical rules of Indonesian, enriching the language and reflecting Indonesia's diverse linguistic heritage.
Malay may refer to:
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. They are spoken by about 328 million people. This makes it the fifth-largest language family by number of speakers. Major Austronesian languages include Malay, Javanese, Sundanese, Tagalog, Malagasy and Cebuano. According to some estimates, the family contains 1,257 languages, which is the second most of any language family.
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 Asia and the Pacific Ocean, with a smaller number in continental Asia in the areas near the Malay Peninsula, with Cambodia, Vietnam and the Chinese island Hainan as the northwest geographic outlier. Malagasy, spoken on the island of Madagascar off the eastern coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, is the furthest western outlier.
Malay is an Austronesian language that is an official language of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. It is also spoken in East Timor and parts of Thailand. Altogether, it is spoken by 290 million people across Maritime Southeast Asia.
Asia is home to hundreds of languages comprising several families and some unrelated isolates. The most spoken language families on the continent include Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Japonic, Dravidian, Indo-European, Afroasiatic, Turkic, Sino-Tibetan, Kra–Dai and Koreanic. Many languages of Asia, such as Chinese, Persian, Sanskrit, Arabic, Tamil or Telugu, have a long history as a written language.
Javanese is a Malayo-Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family spoken primarily by the Javanese people from the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, Indonesia. There are also pockets of Javanese speakers on the northern coast of western Java. It is the native language of more than 68 million people.
Madurese is a language of the Madurese people, native to the Madura Island and Eastern Java, Indonesia; it is also spoken by migrants to other parts of Indonesia, namely the eastern salient of Java, the Masalembu Islands and even some on Kalimantan. It was traditionally written in the Javanese script, but the Latin script and the Pegon script is now more commonly used. The number of speakers, though shrinking, is estimated to be 10-13 million, making it one of the most widely spoken languages in the country. Bawean Madurese, which is a dialect of Madurese, is also spoken by Baweanese descendants in Malaysia and Singapore.
In addition to its classical and modern literary form, Malay had various regional dialects established after the rise of the Srivijaya empire in Sumatra, Indonesia. Also, Malay spread through interethnic contact and trade across the south East Asia Archipelago as far as the Philippines. That contact resulted in a lingua franca that was called Bazaar Malay or low Malay and in Malay Melayu Pasar. It is generally believed that Bazaar Malay was a pidgin, influenced by contact among Malay, Hokkien, Portuguese, and Dutch traders.
There are some 130 to 195 languages spoken in the Philippines, depending on the method of classification. Almost all are Malayo-Polynesian languages native to the archipelago. A number of Spanish-influenced creole varieties generally called Chavacano along with some local varieties of Chinese are also spoken in certain communities. The 1987 constitution designates Filipino, a standardized version of Tagalog, as the national language and an official language along with English. Filipino is regulated by Commission on the Filipino Language and serves as a lingua franca used by Filipinos of various ethnolinguistic backgrounds.
The Sundanese are an indigenous ethnic group native to the western region of Java island in Indonesia, primarily West Java. They number approximately 42 million and form Indonesia's second most populous ethnic group. They speak the Sundanese language, which is part of the Austronesian languages.
Indonesians are citizens or people who are identified with the country of Indonesia, regardless of their ethnic or religious background. There are more than 1,300 ethnicities in Indonesia, making it a multicultural archipelagic country with a diversity of languages, culture and religious beliefs. The population of Indonesia according to the 2020 national census was 270.2 million. 56% live on the island of Java, the world's most populous island. Around 95% of Indonesians are Native Indonesians, primarily of Austronesian and Melanesian descent, with 40% Javanese and 15% Sundanese forming the majority, while the other 5% are Indonesians with ancestry from foreign origin, such as Arab Indonesians, Chinese Indonesians, Indian Indonesians, and Indos.
Native Indonesians, also known as Pribumi or Bumiputra, are Indonesians whose ancestral roots lie mainly in the archipelago, comprising around 1,300 ethnic groups and predominantly of Austronesian and Melanesian descent. In contrast are Indonesians of known (partial) foreign descent, like Chinese Indonesians, Arab Indonesians, Indian Indonesians, Japanese Indonesians, and Indo-Europeans (Eurasians).
There are more than 600 ethnic groups in the multicultural Indonesian archipelago, making it one of the most diverse countries in the world. The vast majority of these belong to the Austronesian peoples, concentrated in western and central Indonesia (Asia), with a sizable minority are Melanesian peoples concentrated in eastern Indonesia (Oceania). With its large population, Indonesia has the world's largest number of Austronesians and Melanesians.
Indonesia is home to over 700 living languages and dialects spoken across its extensive archipelago. This significant linguistic variety constitutes approximately 10% of the world’s total languages, positioning Indonesia as the second most linguistically diverse nation globally, following Papua New Guinea. The majority of these languages belong to the Austronesian language family, prevalent in the western and central regions of Indonesia, including languages such as Acehnese, Sundanese, and Buginese. In contrast, the eastern regions, particularly Papua and the Maluku Islands, are home to over 270 Papuan languages, which are distinct from the Austronesian family and represent a unique linguistic heritage. The language most widely spoken as a native language is Javanese, primarily by the Javanese people in the central and eastern parts of Java Island, as well as across many other islands due to migration.
The concept of a Malay race was originally proposed by the German physician Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752–1840), and classified as a brown race. Malay is a loose term used in the late 19th century and early 20th century to describe the Austronesian peoples.
Malay spoken by a minority of Filipinos, particularly in the Palawan, Sulu Archipelago and parts of Mindanao, mostly in the form of trade and creole languages, such as Sabah Malay.
Javanese New Caledonians are an ethnic group of full or partial Javanese descent in New Caledonia. They have been present since between 1896 and 1949. They were sent as plantation workers administered by the Dutch colonial government in New Caledonia.
The Javanese diaspora is the demographic group of descendants of ethnic Javanese who emigrated from the Indonesian island of Java to other parts of the world. The Javanese diaspora includes a significant population in Suriname, with over 13% of the country's population being of Javanese ancestry. Other major enclaves are found in French Guiana, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Caledonia, Singapore, South Africa, and Sri Lanka.