The language regions of Oceania are the Austronesian region, the Papuan region and the Aboriginal region of Australia.
These are clearly distinguished throughout their geography by the diversity of their languages and the origin of the same.
In Oceania more than 2000 languages are spoken, distributed among about 40 million inhabitants, in the 14 countries that make up this continent.
In the great majority of the islands of Oceania, a different language is spoken per island, which attributes to this continent an incomparable variety and linguistic richness.
One of the most prominent cases in terms of linguistic density is Vanuatu, which has three official languages, but also has more than 100 Creole languages for a population of 294,000 (2017).
What are the Oceania Linguistic Regions?
The great linguistic variety of Oceania is due to the influence of the European languages, the combination of the native languages of the region, and the geographical separations between island portions.
The social distribution of the geographical sectors is also affected. The Melanesians, for example, have a segmented social formation, in which it is essential to differentiate between ethnic groups, and to this end, they create particular linguistic codes.
In Oceania three great linguistic regions are distinguished, which are detailed as follows:
1- Region Austranesia
The Austronesian languages range from the Island of Madagascar, to the Malay Archipelago, Australia and the Polynesian Islands. Basically, they are scattered along the coast and the surrounding islands.
The origins of this linguistic region lie in the south coast of China, although they also have a strong influence of Taiwan, which dates back more than 6000 years.
The Austronesian Region comprises a large linguistic family of more than 1250 languages, and are divided in turn into two large blocks:
a) Formosan languages: its name is derived from the ancient Formosa Island, now known as Taiwan.
The Austronesian languages of this sector are spoken mostly by the indigenous groups of Taiwan, which represents less than 2% of the population of that province.
b) Malayo-Polynesian languages: spoken in the islands of Southeast Asia and in the islands of the Pacific Ocean. In essence it comprises Malaysia, the Philippines and the Polynesian Islands.
2- Region Papuana
The Papuan languages are spoken in Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Solomon Islands and the eastern Indonesian islands, among which are the islands of Halmahera, Alor-Pantar and the mountainous regions of Timor.
The Papuana Region has approximately 750 languages. Its origins lie more than 20,000 years ago.
3- Aboriginal Region of Australia
The Aboriginal languages of Australia make up a small group of native languages of approximately 150 indigenous languages.
These languages are divided into twelve language families and are currently spoken by some 50,000 Australians.
Among the most popular Aboriginal languages in Australia are Tiwi, Pitjantjatjara, Warlpiri, Gupapuynu, Wajarri, Enindhilyagwa and Daly.
References
- Claire Moyse-Faurie (2011). The oceanic continent, champion of plurilingualism? Recovered from: sorosoro.org
- Australian Aboriginal Languages (2012). Recovered from: absolutviajes.com
- Languages spoken in Oceania (2015). Recovered from: Viajesoceania.com
- Official and Spoken Languages of Australia and the Pacific (s.f.). Retrieved from: nationsonline.org
- Sánchez, C. (2012). European linguistic influence in Oceania. Recovered from: oceaniaysuslenguas.blogspot.com
- Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (2017). Austronesian languages. Retrieved from: en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia (2017). Papuan languages. Retrieved from: en.wikipedia.org