In linguistics, Melanesian is an obsolete term referring to the Austronesian languages of Melanesia: that is, the Oceanic, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, or Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages apart from Polynesian and Micronesian. A typical classification of the Austronesian languages ca. 1970 would divide them into something like the following branches:

• Formosan languages (Northern)
• Western Malayo-Polynesian
• Eastern Malayo-Polynesian
  • Melanesian languages (including Fijian)
  • Micronesian languages
  • Polynesian languages