BALANGUE, Krisha Laye L.

BSP-1stYr

What are the languages that our Austronesian ancestors used? Well the Major
Austronesian languages includes Cebuano, Tagalog, Ilocano, Hiligaynon, Bicol,
Waray-Waray, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan of the Philippines; Malay, Javanese,
Sundanese, Madurese, Minangkabau, the Batak languages, Acehnese, Balinese, and
Buginese of western Indonesia; and Malagasy of Madagascar.

Cebuano, referred to by its speakers simply as Bisaya or Binisaya, is an Austronesian

language spoken in the southern Philippines. It is spoken by the Visayan ethnolinguistic
groups native to the islands of Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, the eastern half of Negros, the western
half of Leyte, and the northern coastal areas of Northern Mindanao and the Zamboanga
Peninsula. In modern times, it has also spread to the Davao Region, Cotabato, Camiguin,
parts of the Dinagat Islands, and the lowland regions of Caraga, often displacing native
languages in those areas.

Tagalog, is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by the ethnic Tagalog

people, who make up a quarter of the population of the Philippines, and as a second
language by the majority. Its standardised form, officially named Filipino, is the national
language of the Philippines, and is one of two official languages, alongside English.

Ilocano,is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines, primarily by Ilocano people

and as a lingua franca by the Igorot people. It is the third most-spoken native language in the
country.
As an Austronesian language, it is related to Malay (Indonesian and Malaysian), Tetum,
Chamorro, Fijian, Māori, Hawaiian, Samoan, Tahitian, Paiwan, and Malagasy. It is closely
related to some of the other Austronesian languages of Northern Luzon, and has slight
mutual intelligibility with the Balangao language and the eastern dialects of the Bontoc
language.

Hiligaynon, also often referred to as Ilonggo or Binisaya/Bisaya nga

Hiniligaynon/Inilonggo, is an Austronesian regional language spoken in the Philippines by
about 9.1 million people, predominantly in Western Visayas and Soccsksargen, most of
whom belong to the Hiligaynon people.[3] It is the second-most widely spoken language in
the Visayas and belongs to the Visayan languages, and is more distantly related to other
Philippine languages.

Waray (also known as Waray-Waray or Bisaya/Binisaya nga Winaray/Waray) is an

Austronesian language and the fifth-most-spoken native regional language of the
Philippines, native to Eastern Visayas. It is the native language of the Waray people and
second language of the Abaknon people of Capul, Northern Samar, and some
Cebuano-speaking peoples of western and southern parts of Leyte island. It is the third most
spoken language among the Bisayan languages, only behind Cebuano and Hiligaynon.
Kapampangan or Pampangan, is an Austronesian language, and one of the eight major
languages of the Philippines. It is the primary and predominant language of the entire
province of Pampanga and southern Tarlac, on the southern part of Luzon's central plains
geographic region, where the Kapampangan ethnic group reside. Kapampangan is also
spoken in northeastern Bataan, as well as in the municipalities of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, and
Zambales that border Pampanga. It is further spoken as a second language by a few Aeta
groups in the southern part of Central Luzon.

Malay, is an Austronesian language officially spoken in Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, and

Singapore and unofficially spoken in East Timor and parts of Thailand. It is spoken by 290
million people.

Javanese, is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by the Javanese people from the

central and eastern parts of the island of Java, Indonesia. There are also pockets of
Javanese speakers on the northern coast of western Java. It is the native language of more
than 98 million people. Javanese is the largest of the Austronesian languages in number of
native speakers. It has several regional dialects and a number of clearly distinct status
styles. Its closest relatives are the neighbouring languages such as Sundanese, Madurese,
and Balinese. Most speakers of Javanese also speak Indonesian for official and commercial
purposes as well as a means to communicate with non-Javanese-speaking Indonesians.

Sundanese, is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by the Sundanese. It has

approximately 40 million native speakers in the western third of Java; they represent about
15% of Indonesia's total population.

Madurese, is a language of the Madurese people, native to the Madura Island and Eastern
Java, Indonesia; it is also spoken by migrants to other parts of Indonesia, namely the
eastern salient of Java (comprising Pasuruan, Surabaya, Malang to Banyuwangi), the
Masalembu Islands and even some on Kalimantan. It was traditionally written in the
Javanese script, but the Latin script and the Pegon script (based on Arabic script) is now
more commonly used. The number of speakers, though shrinking, is estimated to be 8–13
million, making it one of the most widely spoken languages in the country. Bawean
Madurese, which is a dialect of Madurese, also spoken by Baweanese descendants in
Malaysia and Singapore.

Minangkabau, is an Austronesian language spoken by the Minangkabau of West Sumatra,

the western part of Riau, South Aceh Regency, the northern part of Bengkulu and Jambi,
also in several cities throughout Indonesia by migrated Minangkabau.[2] The language is also
a lingua franca along the western coastal region of the province of North Sumatra, and is
even used in parts of Aceh, where the language is called Aneuk Jamee.

Acehnese or Achinese, is an Austronesian language natively spoken by the Acehnese

people in Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia. This language is also spoken by Acehnese
descendants in some parts of Malaysia like Yan, in Kedah.
Balinese, is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by 3.3 million people (as of 2000) on the
Indonesian island of Bali as well as Northern Nusa Penida, Western Lombok, Eastern Java,
Southern Sumatra, and Sulawesi. Most Balinese speakers also know Indonesian. The Bali
Cultural Agency estimated in 2011 that the number of people still using the Balinese
language in their daily lives on the Bali Island is under 1 million. The language has been
classified as "not endangered" by Glottolog.

Buginese or Bugis, is a language spoken by about five million people mainly in the
southern part of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Malagasy, is an Austronesian language and the national language of Madagascar. Malagasy is

the westernmost Malayo-Polynesian language, brought to Madagascar by the settlement of
Austronesian peoples from the Sunda islands around the 5th century AD. The Malagasy
language is one of the Barito languages and is most closely related to the Ma'anyan language,
still spoken in Southeast Borneo, Indonesia to this day. Malagasy also includes numerous Malay
and Javanese loanwords, from the time of the early Austronesian settlement and trading
between Madagascar and the Sunda Islands. After c. 1000 AD, Malagasy incorporated
numerous Bantu and Arabic loanwords, brought over by traders and new settlers.