The approximately 450 Oceanic languages are a well-established family of Austronesian languages. The area occupied by speakers of these languages includes Polynesia as well as much of Melanesia and Micronesia.
Though covering a vast area, Oceanic languages are spoken by only two million people. The largest individual Oceanic languages are Eastern Fijian with over 600,000 speakers and Samoan with an estimated 370,000 speakers. Kiribati (Gilbertese), Tongan, Tahitian, Māori, Western Fijian and Kuanua (Tolai) each have over 100,000 speakers.
The common ancestor which is reconstructed for this group of languages is called Proto-Oceanic (abbr. POc).
Read more about Oceanic Languages: Word Order
Famous quotes containing the word languages:
“No doubt, to a man of sense, travel offers advantages. As many languages as he has, as many friends, as many arts and trades, so many times is he a man. A foreign country is a point of comparison, wherefrom to judge his own.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)