The Oceanic Languages

The Oceanic Languages form a closed subgroup within one of the
world’s largest language families, Austronesian. There are between 1000
and 1500 Austronesian languages (estimates vary), with so much
structural diversity that they are best handled in two volumes, one on
the Oceanic and one on the non-Oceanic Austronesian languages. This
division is clear and the grammar sketches in this volume provide a
cross-section through the structural diversity of the Oceanic languages
which is not available elsewhere. Much of the material is drawn from
data collected by the authors and has not been previously published.

The volume contains five background chapters: The Oceanic Languages,
Sociolinguistic Background, Typological Overview, Proto-Oceanic and
Internal Subgrouping. In addition, the volume presents forty-three
grammar sketches, selected from the five hundred Oceanic languages
spread across a region embracing eastern Indonesia, Melanesia,
Polynesia, and Micronesia.