[citation needed] Karafet et al. (2010) suggest haplogroup O-M119 was part of a four-phase colonization model in which Paleolithic migrations of hunter-gatherers shaped the primary structure of current Y-Chromosome diversity of Maritime Southeast Asia.
The Liangdao man, an 8,000 year old skeleton found on Liang Island in the Republic of China off the coast of Fujian, is believed to belong to Haplogroup O-M119, specifically under branch O-CTS5726.
The peak frequency of Haplogroup O-M119 is found among the aborigines of Taiwan, precisely the region from which linguists have hypothesized that the Austronesian language family originated.
The distribution of Tai–Kadai languages in Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia outside of China has long been believed, for reasons of traditional linguistic geography, to reflect a recent invasion of Southeast Asia by Tai–Kadai-speaking populations originating from southeastern China, and the somewhat elevated frequency of Haplogroup O-M119 among the Tai–Kadai populations, coupled with a high frequency of Haplogroup O-M95, which is a genetic characteristic of the Austroasiatic-speaking peoples of Southeast Asia, suggests that the genetic signature of the Tai–Kadai peoples' affinity with populations of southeastern China has been weakened due to extensive assimilation of the earlier Austroasiatic residents of the lands which the Tai–Kadai peoples invaded.
Haplogroup O-M119 lineages are found primarily in Southeast Asian populations of Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, southern China and Taiwan (ISOGG 2010).
High frequencies of this haplogroup have been found in populations spread in an arc through southeastern China, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
A 2008 study by Li suggested that the admixture analyses of Tai–Kadai-speaking populations showed a significant genetic influence in a large proportion of Indonesians.
[13] This lineage is presumed to be a marker of the prehistoric Austronesian expansion, with possible origins encompassing the regions along the southeastern coast of China and neighboring Taiwan, and is found among modern populations of Maritime Southeast Asia and Oceania (Karafet 2005).
[23] A study published in 2010 found O-M110 in 18.8% (9/48) Taiwanese Aboriginals, 13.3% (8/60) Nias, 8.3% (4/48) Philippines, 7.4% (4/54) Sulawesi, 6.3% (22/350) Sumba, 5.8% (5/86) Borneo, 3.3% (1/30) Moluccas, 2.3% (1/44) Maewo, Vanuatu, 1.6% (1/61) Java, 1.4% (1/74) Mentawai, and 0.8% (5/641) Bali.