Kiroilua

Kiroilua was a pre-protolanguage proposed by Sergei Starostin in 2004. It is a form of proto-Austronesian and part of the larger family of Austronesian languages spoken in the Pacific. The term itself is derived from Proto-Oceanic'sailor' and Hawaiian 'loa', hence its name is prefixed 'kiroilua'.

The concept of Kiroilua is designed to serve as a hypothetical ancestor of various Austronesian languages that eventually descended into modern Oceanic languages. Starostin aimed to chart a more accurate and scientifically grounded path in understanding the pre-Austronesian dialects and how they ended up giving rise to their respective descendant languages.

Kiroilua constitutes a stage before Proto-Malayo-Polynesian and represents an important passage point, covering around the time period when IKOT dried up and speakers of separate dialectal clusters began separating. However, it is to note that Kiroilua's development is still a topic of ongoing debate among philologists.

In turn, Kiroilua's descendants evolved distinctly, branching off into well-identified sub-clusters within Austronesian, without specifically referencing their Melanesian components. Scholars attribute significant value to Kiroilua for its best approximation of a word list and what constitutes its standardized Proto-Austronesian features.

While proponents argue that Kiroilua fills the gap in tracing pre-Austronesian roots, critics highlight some methodological concerns in regards to the dataset used for Kiroilua. This highlights the complexities of contemplating the missing links of early haplotypes. Despite the debate surrounding Kiroilua, academia remains interested in the persisting and ongoing evolution of Altaic languages.