Oceanic languages

Oceanic is a branch of the Austronesian language family whose languages are spoken across much of the Pacific, including Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia.

Austronesian languages: A language family whose branches extend from Madagascar through Island Southeast Asia and across the Pacific. Oceanic is one of this family's major branches.
Comparative method: A method for reconstructing ancestral languages by comparing systematic similarities among related languages. It underlies the reconstruction of Proto-Oceanic from its descendants.
Lapita culture: An archaeological culture of the western Pacific associated with pottery, seafaring, and early settlement of Remote Oceania. Its expansion is linked to the spread of early Oceanic-speaking communities.
Fijian language: An Oceanic language spoken in Fiji, with several dialects and an official standard variety. Fijian illustrates the diversity of Oceanic languages in Melanesia.
Oceanic language classification: The scholarly grouping of Oceanic languages into subgroups based on linguistic evidence. Some subgroup boundaries remain debated as evidence and methods develop.
Proto-Oceanic language: The reconstructed ancestral language from which Oceanic languages descended. Its reconstructed vocabulary and grammar provide evidence for shared Oceanic inheritance.
Linguistic subgrouping: The classification of related languages into branches using shared innovations inherited from a common ancestor. Shared innovations distinguish Oceanic subgroups from similarities caused by contact.
Austronesian expansion: The prehistoric dispersal of Austronesian-speaking peoples from Taiwan across Island Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Oceanic languages emerged within this wider movement of peoples and languages.
Māori language: An Eastern Polynesian language indigenous to Aotearoa New Zealand. Māori is a prominent Oceanic language with a major revitalization movement.
Language contact: The interaction of languages through multilingualism, borrowing, and sustained social contact. Contact can obscure inherited relationships or produce features shared across Oceanic languages.

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