| Abstract: |
This chapter analyses the extent and size of the Austronesian language family and introduces some of its neighbors. The Austronesian languages have a geographical distribution in Island Southeast Asia that is today relatively unbroken. The origins of language families pose important questions for human migration since it is obvious that most people speak a language that they inherit from their parents and peers and that they normally do not change during their lifetimes. A very fundamental change in the prehistory of Island Southeast Asia commenced about 3500 BCE, when Neolithic populations from southern China made an appearance in Taiwan. In terms of the overall shape of the Austronesian phylogeny, it is necessary to draw attention to the relative homogeneity of the far‐flung Malayo‐Polynesian (MP) languages when compared to the substantial heterogeneity within Taiwan.
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