Austronesian languages, formerly Malayo-Polynesian languages, family of languages spoken in most of the Indonesian archipelago; all of the Philippines, Madagascar, and the island groups of the Central and South Pacific (except for Australia and much of New Guinea); much of Malaysia; and scattered areas of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Taiwan. In terms of the number of its languages and of their geographic spread, the Austronesian language family is among the world’s largest.
With approximately 1,200 members, the Austronesian language family includes about one-fifth of the world’s languages. Only the Niger-Congo family of Africa approaches it in number of languages, although