Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian languages

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Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian
Geographic distribution:	Indonesia and the Pacific
Genetic classification:	Austronesian  Malayo-Polynesian (MP)   Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian
Subdivisions:	Sunda-Sulawesi Central-Eastern MP

The Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian languages are a branch of the Austronesian family that are thought to have dispersed from a possible homeland in Sulawesi. In this case nuclear means central.

Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian is considered to have two branches:

• The Sunda-Sulawesi languages or Inner Hesperonesian (Inner Western Malayo-Polynesian) languages, which include the languages of Sulawesi and the Greater Sunda Islands, as well as a few outliers such as Chamorro and Palauan; and
• the Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages, which include the languages to the east (the Lesser Sunda Islands, Halmahera, Moluccas, New Guinea, and the Pacific).

[edit] References

• Fay Wouk and Malcolm Ross (ed.), The history and typology of western Austronesian voice systems. Australian National University, 2002.