 | |
| Languages | |
|---|---|
| Melanesian languages, Papuan languages, Indonesian, English, English-based creoles, Rabaul Creole German, French | |
| Religion | |
| Predominantly Christianity, minority traditional Melanesian religion, and Islam | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Aboriginal Australians, Austronesian peoples, Euronesians |
Melanesians are the predominant and indigenous inhabitants of Melanesia, in an area stretching from New Guinea to the Fiji Islands.[1] Most speak one of the many languages of the Austronesian language family (especially ones in the Oceanic branch) or one of the many unrelated families of Papuan languages. There are several creoles of the region, such as Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, Solomon Islands Pijin, Bislama, and Papuan Malay.[2]
- ^ Keesing, Roger M.; Kahn, Miriam. "Melanesian culture". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
Melanesian culture, the beliefs and practices of the indigenous peoples of the ethnogeographic group of Pacific Islands known as Melanesia. From northwest to southeast, the islands form an arc that begins with New Guinea (the western half of which is called Papua and is part of Indonesia, and the eastern half of which comprises the independent country of Papua New Guinea) and continues through the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides), New Caledonia, Fiji, and numerous smaller islands.
- ^ Dunn, Michael, Angela Terrill, Ger Reesink, Robert A. Foley, Stephen C. Levinson (2004). "Structural Phylogenetics and the Reconstruction of Ancient Language History". Science. 309 (5743): 2072–2075. Bibcode:2005Sci...309.2072D. doi:10.1126/science.1114615. hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-0013-1B84-E. PMID 16179483. S2CID 2963726.
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