Talk:Austronesian languages

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Malay and Indonesian

Indonesian is spoken by 90% of Malay speakers, so it never hurts to explain it in brackets Bahasa Kitasemua (talk) 16:41, 29 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Continental Asia

The lead currently states that austronesian languages are spoken in (among other places) "parts of Mainland Southeast Asia", and then the next sentence says: "There are also a number of speakers in continental Asia."

Isn't that sentence simply redundant? Nø (talk) 18:32, 23 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I have now removed the redundant sentencej. Nø (talk) 20:02, 16 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Nø: The long-standing version[1] read:

...widely spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan (by Taiwanese indigenous peoples). There are also a number of speakers in continental Asia.

It was maximally cluttered with this edit:[2]. I partially de-cluttered it here[3], but missed the remaining redundancy that you have spotted.

Your version looks good, but just in case if someone prefers the long-standing version, I'm fine with either version. –Austronesier (talk) 10:46, 17 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Most widespread languange family

We say:

The geographical span of Austronesian was the largest of any language family before the spread of Indo-European in the colonial period. It ranged from Madagascar off the southeastern coast of Africa to Easter Island in the eastern Pacific.

I think this statement should include a start as well as a finish. Madagascar was settled between 350 BCE and 250 CE, and Easter Island between 300 CE and 1200 CE (probably closer to the latter). Other eastern Pacific islands were likewise settled around 1000 CE. So from what date is it true that Austronesian was the most widespread? I'm not sure, but he following seems valid - and better than what we have?

After the settlement of Madagascar off the southeastern coast of Africa around 2000 years ago, and of Easter Island and other islands of the eastern Pacific around 1000 years ago, but before the span of the Indo-European languages became global during the colonial period, Austronesian had the largest geographical span of of any language family.

Nø (talk) 11:51, 17 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

For simplicity, we might also say "right before the spread of Indo-European in the colonial period", or "in the first half of the second millenium CE before the spread of Indo-European in the colonial period". The article Austronesian peoples says "Prior to the 16th century Colonial Era".

If we want to mention the date of settlement of the extreme points, I'd prefer "around 1500 years ago" for Madagascar as more realistic. For Easter Island, we could say "1200 CE (or maybe earlier)". –Austronesier (talk) 12:04, 17 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for suggestions. I've added the ""in the first half of the second millenium" version; I think it's a good compromise bewteen brevity and precision. Nø (talk) 16:09, 17 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]