Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages

Eastern Malayo-Polynesian
Geographic distribution:	The Moluccas and the Pacific
Linguistic classification:	Austronesian Paiwanic ? Malayo-Polynesian (MP) Nuclear MP (Central–Eastern) Eastern Malayo-Polynesian
Subdivisions:	Halmahera–Cenderawasih Oceanic
ISO 639-5:	pqe

The Eastern Malayo-Polynesian (EMP) languages form a putative subgroup of the Malayo-Polynesian languages consisting of over 500 languages. Their relationship is not supported by much linguistic data: per Malcolm Ross, there is "essentially no evidence" that the Halmahera–Cenderawasih (South Halmahera – West New Guinea) and Oceanic families form an exclusive clade within Malayo-Polynesian, while a 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database gives the proposal a confidence level of only 58%.

References

• Fay Wouk and Malcolm Ross (ed.), The history and typology of western Austronesian voice systems. Australian National University, 2002.
• K. Alexander Adelaar and Nikolaus Himmelmann, The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar. Routledge, 2005.