南島語（Austronesian languages）是世界上最大的語系之一，目前說這一語言的人口大約有4億，包含了1200多個語言；在地理分佈上，北到臺灣，南到紐西蘭，東到南美洲秘魯西邊之復活節島，西到非洲東岸的馬達加斯加島，涵蓋了太平洋和印度洋約三分之一以上的廣大水域。這些說南島語的民族，在語言上呈現系統性之演化關係、在文化上有許多共同之特質，顯示可能有一個共同的來源，其分離擴散的時間，也不致太久遠。然而關於南島語族究竟是從哪裡起源？又如何擴散？始終是東南亞和太平洋人類歷史上亟待解答的重要問題。近年來有不少語言學者、考古學者、人類學者，以及人類遺傳學者，試圖進行探討，並產生多種理論的爭辯。而在這些爭辯中，臺灣所能提供的語言、考古和原住民遺傳基因的資料，始終受到極大的關注。這不僅是由於臺灣介於中國大陸和太平洋之間的陸橋位置，而且也因為臺灣所具有南島語言的複雜性，以及史前文化與現住南島族群之間的可能連結。本文試圖以在臺灣及其周邊地區所發現的一些新的考古資料，來重新檢討南島族的起源與擴散問題。本文的結論認為：南島語族的祖先可能居住在福建南部到越南北部之間的南中國海北岸地帶，他們可能是在複雜的動機或因素下，以多條路徑，而非僅有一條，越過南中國海，擴散到菲律賓及其他東南亞的海島。

Austronesian languages is one of the largest language families in the world including more than 1200 languages, and the current population of its speakers is about 400 million. The geographical distribution of the Austronesian languages is north to Taiwan, south to New Zealand, east to Easter Island off the west coast of Peru, and west to Madagascar near the east coast of Africa, covering about one-third of the vast waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The Austronesian languages, which possess systematic evolutionary relationships with each other and have many common characteristics in culture, may have a common origin and the time span of their dispersal should not be too long. However, ”where was their homeland?” and ”why and how did they disperse from their homeland?” are always important questions need to be answered in the human history of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. In recent years, many linguists, archaeologists, anthropologists and even molecular biologists have attempted to explore these questions and have raised different theories to argue. In the arguments, the role of Taiwan and the linguistic, archaeological and genetic data from Taiwan have always been of great concern. This is not only because of its geographical location between the Asian mainland and the Pacific, but also the possible links between the prehistoric cultures and the living Austronesian inhabitants in Taiwan. This paper attempts to examine some new archaeological data found in Taiwan and its surrounding areas and to rethink the questions on the origin and dispersal of the Austronesian-speaking peoples. The conclusions are that the ancestors of the Austronesian-speaking peoples may have inhabited on the coastal areas between southern Fujian and northern Vietnam, and through multiple, instead of one, navigation routes across the South China Sea, they dispersed into the Philippines and other Southeast Asian islands.