The Central Malayo-Polynesian languages (CMP) are a proposed branch in the

Malayo-Polynesian The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeast ...

subgroup of the Austronesian language family. The languages are spoken in the

Lesser Sunda The Lesser Sunda Islands or nowadays known as Nusa Tenggara Islands ( id, Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, formerly ) are an archipelago in Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up ...

and

Maluku Islands The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located eas ...

of the

Banda Sea The Banda Sea ( id, Laut Banda, pt, Mar de Banda, tet, Tasi Banda) is one of four seas that surround the Maluku Islands of Indonesia, connected to the Pacific Ocean, but surrounded by hundreds of islands, including Timor, as well as the Halma ...

, in an area corresponding closely to the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

n provinces of

East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara ( id, Nusa Tenggara Timur – NTT; pt, Sonda Oriental) is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, facing the Indian Ocean in the south and the Flores Sea in the nor ...

and Maluku and the nation of

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

(excepting the

Papuan languages The Papuan languages are the non- Austronesian and non-Australian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands, by around 4 million people. It is a strictly geogra ...

Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is East Timor–Indonesia border, divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western p ...

and nearby islands), but with the Bima language extending to the eastern half of

Sumbawa Sumbawa is an Indonesian island, located in the middle of the Lesser Sunda Islands chain, with Lombok to the west, Flores to the east, and Sumba further to the southeast. Along with Lombok, it forms the province of West Nusa Tenggara, but there ...

Island in the province of

West Nusa Tenggara West Nusa Tenggara ( id, Nusa Tenggara Barat – NTB) is a province of Indonesia. It comprises the western portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the exception of Bali which is its own province. Mataram, on Lombok, is the capital and largest ...

and the Sula languages of the Sula archipelago in the southwest corner of the province of

North Maluku North Maluku ( id, Maluku Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, bordering the Pacific Ocean to the north, the Halmahera Sea to the east, the Molucca Sea to the west, and the Seram Sea to the south. ...

. The principal islands in this region are Sumbawa,

Sumba Sumba ( id, Pulau Sumba) is an island in eastern Indonesia. It is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands and is in the province of East Nusa Tenggara. Sumba has an area of , and the population was 779,049 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as a ...

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...

, Timor,

Buru Buru (formerly spelled Boeroe, Boro, or Bouru) is the third largest island within the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. It lies between the Banda Sea to the south and Seram Sea to the north, west of Ambon and Seram islands. The island belongs to Ma ...

, and

Seram Seram (formerly spelled Ceram; also Seran or Serang) is the largest and main island of Maluku province of Indonesia, despite Ambon Island's historical importance. It is located just north of the smaller Ambon Island and a few other adjacent is ...

. The numerically most important languages are Bima,

Manggarai The Manggarai are an ethnic group found in western Flores in the East Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. Manggarai people are spread across three regencies in the province, namely the West Manggarai Regency, Manggarai Regency and East Manggarai Re ...

of western Flores,

Uab Meto Uab Meto or Dawan is an Austronesian language spoken by Atoni people of West Timor. The language has a variant spoken in the East Timorese exclave of Oecussi-Ambeno, called Baikenu. Baikenu uses words derived from Portuguese, for example, ''ob ...

of West Timor, and

Tetum , nativename=Tetun , states= Indonesia East Timor , speakers=, mostly in Indonesia , date=2010–2011 , ref=e18 , speakers2=50,000 L2-speakers in Indonesia and East Timor , familycolor=Austronesian , fam2=Malayo-Polynesian , fam3= Central–East ...

, the national language of East Timor. Blust proposes that the CMP languages form a

linkage Linkage may refer to: * ''Linkage'' (album), by J-pop singer Mami Kawada, released in 2010 *Linkage (graph theory), the maximum min-degree of any of its subgraphs *Linkage (horse), an American Thoroughbred racehorse * Linkage (hierarchical cluster ...

, which means that the CMP languages share a common ancestor and many overlapping innovations, none of which however are found in all CMP languages.

Internal subgrouping

Based on the ''Glottolog'', CMP can be provisionally divided into the following subgroups: *

Bima Bima (Indonesia: ''Kota Bima'') is a city on the eastern coast of the island of Sumbawa in central Indonesia's province West Nusa Tenggara. It is the largest city on the island of Sumbawa, with a population of 142,443 at the 2010 census and 155,1 ...

, spoken on the eastern half of

Island. *

Sumba–Flores languages The Sumba–Flores languages, which correspond to the traditional "Bima–Sumba" subgroup minus Bima, are a proposed group of Austronesian languages (geographically Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages) spoken on and around the islands ...

, spoken on and around the islands of

and western–central

in the

Lesser Sundas The Lesser Sunda Islands or nowadays known as Nusa Tenggara Islands ( id, Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, formerly ) are an archipelago in Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up ...

. *

Flores–Lembata languages The Flores–Lembata languages are a group of related Austronesian languages (geographically Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages) spoken in the Lesser Sundas, on eastern Flores and small islands immediately east of Flores. They are su ...

, spoken in the

, on eastern

and small islands immediately east of Flores. *

Selaru languages The Selaru languages are a pair of Austronesian languages (geographically Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages) spoken in the Tanimbar Islands of Indonesia. They are not closely related, being 56% lexically similar (''Ethnologue''). Th ...

, spoken in the

Tanimbar Islands The Tanimbar Islands, also called ''Timur Laut'', are a group of about 65 islands in the Maluku (province), Maluku Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. The largest and most central of the islands is Yamdena; others include Selaru to t ...

of Indonesia. *

Kei–Tanimbar languages The Kei–Tanimbar languages are a small group of Austronesian languages spoken on the Kei and Tanimbar islands in the southern Maluku Islands, and on the north side of the Bomberai Peninsula. The languages include: *Kei–Fordata **Kei ** For ...

, spoken in the

Kei Kei may refer to: People * Kei (given name) * Kei, Cantonese for Ji (surname), Ji(姫) * Kei, Cantonese for Qi (surname), Qi(奇, 祁, 亓) * Shō Kei (1700–1752), king of the Ryūkyū Kingdom * Kei (singer) (born 1995), stage name of South Kor ...

and

of the southern Malukus, and on the north side of the

Bomberai Peninsula Bomberai Peninsula ( id, Semenanjung Bomberai), otherwise known as the Bird's Beak Peninsula ( id, Semenanjung Paruh Burung), is located in the Western New Guinea region, opposite to and to the south of the Bird's Head Peninsula. To the west lies ...

. *

Aru languages The Aru languages are a group of a dozen Austronesian languages spoken on the Aru Islands in Indonesia. None are spoken by more than ten thousand people. Although geographically close to Central Maluku languages, they are not part of that group ...

, spoken on the

Aru Islands The Aru Islands Regency ( id, Kabupaten Kepulauan Aru) is a group of about 95 low-lying islands in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia. It also forms a regency of Maluku Province, with a land area of . At the 2011 Census the Regency had a po ...

. *

Central Maluku languages The Central Maluku languages are a proposed subgroup of the Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family which comprises around fifty languages spoken principally on the Seram, Buru, Ambon, Kei, and the Sula Is ...

, spoken principally on the

Ambon Ambon may refer to: Places * Ambon Island, an island in Indonesia ** Ambon, Maluku, a city on Ambon Island, the capital of Maluku province ** Governorate of Ambon, a colony of the Dutch East India Company from 1605 to 1796 * Ambon, Morbihan, a c ...

, and the

Sula Islands The Sula Islands Regency ( id, Kabupaten Kepulauan Sula) is one of the regencies in North Maluku province of Indonesia. It covers a land area of 3,338.67 km2 and consists of two of the three large islands comprising the Sula Archipelago, together ...

. *

Timoric languages The Timoric languages are a group of Austronesian languages (belonging to the Central–Eastern subgroup) spoken on the islands of Timor, neighboring Wetar, and (depending on the classification) Southwest Maluku to the east. Within the grou ...

, spoken on the islands of

, neighboring

Wetar Wetar is a tropical island which belongs to the Indonesian province of Maluku and is the largest island of the Maluku Barat Daya Islands (literally ''Southwest Islands'') of the Maluku Islands. It lies east of the Lesser Sunda Islands, which in ...

, and Southwest Maluku to the east. * Babar languages, spoken on the

Babar Islands The Babar Islands ''(''Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Babar)'' are located in Maluku Province, Indonesia between latitudes 7 degrees 31 minutes South to 8 degrees 13 minutes South and from longitudes 129 degrees 30 minutes East to 130 degrees 05 minutes ...

. * Kowiai, spoken on the

in New Guinea. * Teor-Kur language, spoken near Kei Island, Indonesia.

Edwards & Grimes (2021)

Edwards & Grimes (2021) find that the similarities between the demonstrable groups of CMP languages are due to Papuan substrates and contact. They propose the following groups of languages in the area as primary branches of Austronesian. Several of these groups have been previously proposed, including by Blust:Edwards, Owen; Charles E. Grimes. 2021.
Revising the classification of the Austronesian languages of eastern Indonesia and Timor-Leste
'
15th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics (15-ICAL)
June 28 to July 2, 2021,

Palacký University Olomouc Palacký University Olomouc is the oldest university in Moravia and the second-oldest in the Czech Republic. It was established in 1573 as a public university led by the Jesuit order in Olomouc, which was at that time the capital of Moravia an ...

. * Bima–Lembata languages (

, Sumba–Flores & Flores–Lembata); marked by *#b > **w in a dozen roots *

Timor–Babar languages The Timoric languages are a group of Austronesian languages (belonging to the Central–Eastern subgroup) spoken on the islands of Timor, neighboring Wetar, and (depending on the classification) Southwest Maluku to the east. Within the grou ...

(extra-Ramelaic,

Babar Babar ( ur, ), also variously spelled as Baber, Babur, and Babor is a male given name of Pashto, and Persian language, Persian origin, and a popular male given name in Pakistan. It is generally taken in reference to the Persian language, Persian ...

Selaru Selaru is an island in Indonesia in the Tanimbar Islands group, Southeast Maluku. It is located south of Yamdena. It is one of the 92 officially listed outlying islands of Indonesia. File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Een groep jonge mannen te Adaoet ...

); marked by *p > **h (often lost) * Central Timor languages (Ramelaic); *ŋ > **ɡ (often devoiced to /k/) *

; *j/R > **R, *z/y/i > **y (often with fortition to ʒ * Tanimbar–Bomberai languages ( Kei–Tanimbar, Teor-Kur, Irarutu–Nabi & Bedoanas–Erokwanas); *z/d > **d (later > in some); *j > /r/ in some words; *-ay/-aw > **-a; *p > /f/ * Sula–Buru languages (incl.

Ambelau Ambelau or Ambalau is a volcanic island in the Banda Sea within Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island forms an administrative district ( id, Kecamatan Ambalau) which is part of the South Buru Regency ( id, Kabupaten Buru Selatan) of Maluku ...

); *R > /h/, *-ay/-aw > /a/, *j > split zero ~ /l/; plus morphology & lexicon such as **dama 'eye' *

Ambon–Seram languages The Nunusaku languages are a group of Malayo-Polynesian languages, spoken on and around the island of Seram. None of the languages have more than about twenty thousand speakers, and several are endangered with extinction. Classification *''Kayel ...

(Nunusaku); *ŋ/n > /n/, *l/d/z/j/R > mostly **l *Seram Laut languages (tentative); *-ay/-aw > /a/, *ə > /a/ in final syllables ** Banda ** East Seram **Eastern Islands (Seram Laut proper: Geser, Kowiai) Seram Laut, apart from Kowiai, was first proposed by Collins (1986). It's distinguished from Ambon–Seram to the west in its reflexes of *j, *R, *-aw, and from Tanimbar–Bomberai to the east in *j and *z, but is only weakly defined as a unit. Its three branches are however well defined. Edwards & Grimes (2021) further propose that the

Taliabo language Taliabo (Taliabu) is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken on the island of the same name in the Moluccas of Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pa ...

s, generally held to be part of Central Maluku, are actually Celebic (specifically, Saluan–Banggai).

References

{{Central Malayo-Polynesian languages Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages Languages of Indonesia