The most widely accepted model for the colonization of Remote Oceania by Austronesian-speaking bearers of the Lapita complex ~ 3 ka (3000 years ago) links it to a broader Neolithic expansion from China, via Taiwan, ~ 4.5-6 ka. However, analyses of mitochondrial DNA haplogroup B4a1a1a, prevalent among Remote Oceanians today, have both supported and challenged this scenario. Here, we analyze 1364 B4a1a1 mitogenomes (234 novel) from 68 islands and compare age estimates with radiocarbon dates for colonization. We estimate the settlement of Remote Oceania ~ 3.2 [2.7; 3.75] ka, matching radiocarbon ages, and then extrapolate the age in Near Oceania. B4a1a1a arose around the northern coasts of New Guinea at least 6 ka, following Early Holocene dispersals from Asia. Technological advances (e.g., in sailing), fueled by interaction networks alongside the arrival of Late Holocene migrants from Taiwan or ISEA and putative environmental changes, likely triggered the expansion of Lapita colonists carrying B4a1a1a from New Guinea into Remote Oceania.

... Austronesian languages form a superfamily called Austro - Tai , with a common ancestral language or chain of languages ( Proto - Austro - Tai ) once spoken ... During the linguistic stage termed Proto - Austro - Tai ( c.4500 BC ? ) it ... The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia is a multi-authored treatment of the whole of mainland and island Southeast Asia from Burma to Indonesia. Unlike other histories of the region, it is not divided on a country-by-country basis and is not structured purely chronologically, but rather takes a thematic and regional approach to Southeast Asia's history, aiming to present the current state of historical research on Southeast Asia as well as stimulating further thought and investigation.--Publisher description.

This thesis re-examines the phoneme system of Proto-Austronesian, drawing on the Formosan language data and the reconstructions of the Proto-Austronesian lexicon in The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary. It considers the implications of this revised phoneme system for the subgrouping of the Formosan languages and the place of the Malayo-Polynesian languages in relation to that Formosan subgrouping. It proposes a simpler phoneme system than that used in The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary, with a coronal rather than a palatal centre of gravity, and a revised subgrouping of the Formosan languages that includes two new primary branches of Austronesian, one that incorporates the East Formosan languages and Bunun, and potentially also the Malayo-Polynesian languages, defined by the merger of *t and *C as t, and one that incorporates Rukai, Puyuma and Paiwan, and potentially also the Malayo-Polynesian languages, defined by the split of *k into k and g. It also proposes two replacement defining innovations for the Atayalic branch, namely the merger of *l and *N as l and the shift of *R to g, and an additional defining innovation for the Northwest Formosan branch, namely the shift of *j to z, complementing the already recognized merger of *S and *C as s, which form the voiceless and voiced pair of a spirantization process in Northwest Formosan that affects all affricates.

Historical Interpretation By combining subgrouping information, the content of the reconstructible lexicon of Proto-Austronesian (as well as the lexicons of various lower-level sub- groups, most significantly Proto-Oceanic), and ... Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World is an authoritative single-volume reference resource comprehensively describing the major languages and language families of the world. It will provide full descriptions of the phonology, semantics, morphology, and syntax of the world's major languages, giving insights into their structure, history and development, sounds, meaning, structure, and language family, thereby both highlighting their diversity for comparative study, and contextualizing them according to their genetic relationships and regional distribution.Based on the highly acclaimed and award-winning Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, this volume will provide an edited collection of almost 400 articles throughout which a representative subset of the world's major languages