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Definition of Malayo-Polynesian
1. Adjective. Of or relating to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages.
2. Noun. The branch of the Austronesian languages spoken from Madagascar to the central Pacific.
Generic synonyms: Austronesian, Austronesian Language
Specialized synonyms: Eastern Malayo-polynesian, Oceanic, Tongan, Western Malayo-polynesian
Definition of Malayo-Polynesian
1. Proper noun. A subgroup of languages of the Austronesian language family, mostly dispersed around the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Lexicographical Neighbors of Malayo-Polynesian
Literary usage of Malayo-Polynesian
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Researches Into the Physical History of Mankind by James Cowles Prichard (1847)
"The ancient abode of the Malayo-Polynesian tribes, or the primitive home of the
... Elsewhere we find the Malayo-Polynesian race existing only at a distance ..."
2. Australasia by Alfred Russel Wallace, Augustus Henry Keane (1888)
"... Pacific or eastern branch is somehow affected by, or largely made up of,
Malayan elements. Hence Malayo-Polynesian cannot continue much longer in use, ..."
3. The Science of Language: Linguistics, Philology, Etymology by Abel Hovelacque (1877)
"The Malayo-Polynesian Idioms. These are sometimes called Oceanic, ... Two facts
seem now firmly established : (1) That the Malayo- Polynesian idioms have ..."
4. Ethnology by Augustus Henry Keane (1896)
"... Malay problem— Malay physical type—Malagasy affinities—Malayo-Polynesian
linguistic relations—Ethnical relations in the Philippine Islands. ..."
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