The differences in their languages show that the Austronesian language family has existed in Taiwan for a long, long time--long enough to differentiate itself to such a high degree--and Taiwan is the only place along the entire southeast coast of China where the Austronesian languages are still spoken. To trace back the steps of the Austronesian forebears to the Chinese mainland, we have to rely on archaeology to reconstruct the ties between Taiwan and Fukien.
而且他們各族語言都不同，顯示南島語族在這個地方已經很久，久到足以分化得如此複雜。而目前除了台灣以外，整個中國東南沿海已經沒有南島語族存在；要追溯大陸上南島語族祖先的蹤跡，只有靠考古學重建台灣和福建相連的情形。