Oceanic languages
The Oceanic languages are one of the East Malayo Polynesian languages within the Austronesian languages . The Polynesian and Micronesian languages are the best known subgroups of the Oceanic languages. The majority of the approximately 450 oceanic languages have only a few hundred to a thousand speakers. Many of the languages are not written down and hardly documented.
The oceanic languages are divided into the languages of the Admiralty Islands as well as a west-oceanic and a central-east-oceanic branch, which also includes the Micronesian and Polynesian languages . Before the relationships between the languages were clarified, all oceanic languages except the micro- and Polynesian were summarized under the collective term Melanesian languages (see also Melanesia ).
Important "Melanesian" Languages are the related to the Polynesian Fiji and the west-oceanic languages Motu ( Motu-folk ) Hiri Motu ( lingua franca ) and Kuanua Language ( Tolai people ). The languages Yabêm , Gedaged (West Oceanic) and Mota (Central-East Oceanic) had and in some cases still have significance as sacred languages beyond the circle of native speakers .