The Austronesian–Papuan seam
Austronesian sweeps west to east across the archipelago; in the east sit dozens of separate families called “Papuan” for where they are, not because they are related. The seam between them runs through Halmahera and is visible on the map.
262 languages are emphasised in this view
A view only decides what starts lit. Every language is still drawn and still clickable — hiding the rest would be making a claim about what is there.
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Families
+44 families
- Coverage
- 421 of 726 languages have a territory (58%); the rest are points only.
- The rest are not unfinished work. The speaker areas on this map come from two published atlases, each with its own regional scope; a language outside that scope has no recorded territory to draw, so it is drawn as a point.
Distribution as described by atlas sources, 1990–2020
Language boundaries are gradients rather than lines. Boundaries are drawn as hairlines to keep that in view.
Sources: Glottolog 5.3 (CC-BY-4.0), Glottography (CC-BY-4.0), Natural Earth (public domain).
Endangerment status
- not endangered134
- threatened270
- shifting224
- moribund60
- nearly extinct14
- extinct24
Endangerment is drawn as hatch density over the family colour rather than as a colour of its own: hue already carries family, so the two layers stay readable at once. Status follows Glottolog AES for all 726 languages.
The seam is not a line
67 pairs of recorded areas actually touch along it: 74 languages from 18 different families. Colour makes the boundary look like one long line; this list shows that on Halmahera and around the Bird’s Head the two are interleaved instead.
Papuan is not a family. The word marks a location, not a line of descent: the families of the eastern archipelago that are not Austronesian and have not, so far, been shown to be related to one another. The list below holds 18 distinct families — this seam is not one family meeting another, but one family meeting many.
East Bird's Head
Geelvink Bay
- BarapasiWaropentouching
- Nisa-AnasiPauwitouching
- Nisa-AnasiWarembori0.0 km
- Nisa-AnasiWaropentouching
- TunggareYerisiamtouching
- TunggareWaropentouching
Greater Kwerba
Hatam-Mansim
Mairasic
Mawes
Mor (Bomberai Peninsula)
- Mor (Bomberai Peninsula)Yarikmantouching
Nimboranic
North Halmahera
- ModoleMaba (Indonesia)touching
- ModoleSawaitouching
- TabaruEast Makiantouching
- TabaruGanetouching
- TabaruSawaitouching
- TernateSawaitouching
- TidoreEast Makiantouching
- TidoreGanetouching
- TidoreSawaitouching
- TobeloBuli (Indonesia)touching
- TobeloSawaitouching
- West MakianEast Makiantouching
Nuclear Trans New Guinea
Sentanic
South Bird's Head
Tanahmerah
- TanahmerahIrarututouching
Timor-Alor-Pantar
Tor-Orya
West Bird's Head
West Bomberai
Yawa-Saweru
Two areas count as touching when they come within 2 km of each other in the simplified geometry (0.01° tolerance, roughly 1.1 km).
This is a floor, not a census. Only languages with a recorded area can appear, and 305 languages on this map are points only — a language can sit squarely on the seam and never be listed.