Barito languages

The Barito languages are around twenty Austronesian languages of Indonesia (Borneo), plus Malagasy, the national language of Madagascar. They are named after the Barito River located in South Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The Barito subgroup was first proposed by Hudson (1967), comprising the three branches East Barito, West Barito, and Mahakam (Barito–Mahakam). It is thought by some to be a Sprachbund rather than a genuine clade. For example, Adelaar (2005) rejects Barito as a valid group despite accepting less traditional groups such as North Bornean and Malayo-Sumbawan.

The Malagasy language originates from the South East Borneo area (modern-day Indonesia), and it has been linked to Ma'anyan within the Southeast Barito group, with Malagasy incorporating numerous Malay and Javanese loanwords. It known that Ma'anyan people were brought as labourers and slaves by Malay and Javanese people in their trading fleets, which reached Madagascar by ca. 50–500 AD. Based on linguistic evidence, it has been suggested that Malagasy was taken to East Africa between the 7th and 13th centuries. It is likely that a separate Malagasy speech community had already formed in Borneo before the early Malagasy migrants settled in Madagascar.