Melanesian languages
Obsolete term for Austronesian languages of Melanesia / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Melanau language.
In linguistics, Melanesian is an obsolete term referring to the Austronesian languages of Melanesia: that is, the Oceanic, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, or Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages apart from Polynesian and Micronesian. A typical classification of the Austronesian languages ca. 1970 would divide them into something like the following branches:[1]
- Formosan languages (Northern)
- Western Malayo-Polynesian
- Eastern Malayo-Polynesian
- Melanesian languages (including Fijian)
- Micronesian languages
- Polynesian languages