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consistent and supports the need for both the national and the regional languages. New
legislation has been proposed and drafted that could guarantee support for the continued
function and the role of regional languages, thought it still needs parliamentary approval
(Lauder and Lauder, 2012a).
The hundreds of regional languages in Indonesia are mutually unintelligible but when
examined closely, it is possible to find similarities in vocabulary and structure. By examining
such correspondences, the languages in Indonesia can be classified as belonging to one or
other of two language families.
The grouping of languages into families has been done for nearly all of the
approximately 6,000 languages in the world (Crystal, 1997). According to one author, these
can be classified into 17 language families (Comrie et al., 2003). They are known as Indo-
European, Uralic, Altaic, Chukotkko-Kamchatkan, Caucasian, Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan,
Niger-Congo, Khoisan, Eskimo-Aleut, Na-Dene, Amerind, Dravidian, Sino-Tibetan, Austric
(Austronesian), Papuan (Non-Austronesian), and Australian Aboriginal.
Two of these language families are represented in Indonesia. The regional indigenous
languages in Indonesia all belong to either the Austronesian or the Papuan (Non-
Austronesian) language family (Lewis et al., 2015). Out of 706 living languages recordd for
Indonesia, about two thirds of the languages are from the Austronesian language family,
but 255 languages, or about one third, can be classified as Papuan or Non-Austronesian
(Lewis et al., 2015). All 255 of these languages are found in the eastern part of Indonesia, in
the Maluku Islands, the western part of Nusa Tenggara, and in Papua.
The reason for there being two names for this language family, Papuan or Non-
Austronesian, arises because, although they are found in Papua and Papua New Guinea, it
is possible that with further study it may be that this group of languages does not belong
to one family, but to a number of other, as yet unverified language families. The picture is
further complicated as some of these Papuan languages may in fact have had their origins
with the Austronesian language family (Comrie et al., 2003). Further studies are needed to
clear this up.

Probing the Melanesian World
The language picture in Indonesia is complex with regard to number of speakers, social
functions, endangerment status and language families. If we look at the geographical
context in which Indonesia finds itself, we can distinguish the Southeast Asian region and
East Asia, and the Southwest Pacific region beyond which is the rest of the Pacific.

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