Anthropologists and linguists believe Austronesian-speaking peoples originated in the south-west part of mainland China, and because the linguistic situation among Taiwan's aborigines is particularly complex, many have conjectured that Taiwan was the first stop-over for the Austronesians as they spread southwards from their continental homelands.
許多人類學、語言學家相信，「南島語族」來自中國大陸西南方，渡海往南遷移，而由於台灣的南島語較其他地區複雜分歧，更可進一步推測，台灣是當初南島語族遷往南方的第一站。