Malayic languages

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Malayic
Geographic
distribution
Maritime Southeast Asia
Linguistic classificationAustronesian
Proto-languageProto-Malayic
Subdivisions
  • (disputed)
Glottologmala1538
Historical distribution of the Malayic languages in Maritime Southeast Asia (including Malay-based creoles):
  The Ibanic and Western Malayic Dayak (Kanayatn/Kendayan-Salako) subgroups, also known collectively as "Malayic Dayak".
  Other Malayic varieties; genetic relationships between them are still unclear.

The Malayic languages are a branch of the

Banjarese, Iban) even as far as Urak Lawoi
in the southwestern coast of Thailand.

The most probable candidate for the

urheimat of the Malayic languages is western Borneo prior to spread in Sumatra.[4]

History

The term "Malayic" was first coined by Dyen (1965) in his lexicostatistical classification of the Austronesian languages. Dyen's "Malayic hesion" had a wider scope than the Malayic subgroup in its currently accepted form, and also included Acehnese, Lampung and Madurese. Nothofer (1988) narrowed down the range of Malayic, but included the non-Malayic languages Rejang and Embaloh:

The present scope of the Malayic subgroup, which is now universally accepted by experts in the field, was first proposed by K.A. Adelaar (1992, 1993), based on phonological, morphological and lexical evidence.

Languages

Malayic languages are spoken on Borneo, Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, Java and on several islands located in the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca.

Borneo
Malay Peninsula
Sumatra
Java
South China Sea/Strait of Malacca
Maluku

Subgrouping

Internal classification

While there is general consensus about which languages can be classified as Malayic, the internal subgrouping of the Malayic languages is still disputed.

Adelaar (1993)

Adelaar (1993) classifies the Malayic languages as follows.[5]

Ross (2004)

Based on grammatical evidence, Ross (2004) divides the Malayic languages into two primary branches:[6]

  • Malayic
    • Western Malayic Dayak (Kendayan, Salako)
    • Nuclear Malayic (all other lects)

This classification is mirrored in the Glottolog (Version 3.4).

Anderbeck (2012)

Following

Duano.[7][a]

Anderbeck's classification has been adopted in the 17th edition of the Ethnologue, with the sole exception of Duano, which is listed in the Ethnologue among the "Malay" languages.[b]

Smith (2017)

In his dissertation on the languages of Borneo, Smith (2017) provides evidence for a subgroup comprising Malayic isolects in western Borneo and southern Sumatra, which he labels "West Bornean Malayic".[9] However, he leaves other isolects unclassified.

Position within Austronesian

The inclusion of the Malayic languages within the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup is undisputed, and there is general consensus that the Chamic languages are closely related to Malayic. The wider affiliations of the Malayic languages are however controversial. There are two major proposals: Adelaar (2005) places Malayic within the Malayo-Sumbawan subgroup, which comprises the following languages:[10]

Blust (2010) and Smith (2017) assign Malayic to the Greater North Borneo subgroup:[11][12]

The Malayo-Sumbawan hypothesis is mainly based on phonological evidence with a few shared

lexical innovations
, while the Greater North Borneo hypothesis is based on a large corpus of lexical evidence.

Proto-Malayic

Proto-Malayic
Reconstruction ofMalayic languages
Reconstructed
ancestors
Proto-Austronesian
  • Proto-Malayo-Polynesian

Phonology

Proto-Malayic has a total of 19 consonants and 4 vowels.[13]

Proto-Malayic Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive
Voiceless *p *t[d] *c *k
Voiced *b *d
Nasal
*m *n
Fricative
*s *h
Liquid *l *r
Approximant
*w *j
Proto-Malayic Vowels
Height Front Central Back
Close *i *u
Mid
Open *a

There are 2 diphthongs:

  • *-ay
  • *-aw

Word structure

Proto-Malayic lexemes are mostly disyllabic, though some have one, three, or four syllables. Lexemes have the following syllable structure:[13]

* [C V (N)] [C V (N)] [C V (N)] C V C 

Note: C = consonant, V = vowel, N =
nasal

Phonological changes

Here are the phonological changes from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian to Proto-Malayic.[14]

Notes

  1. ^ As with Adelaar, Anderbeck reckons the difficulty in assigning absolute subgrouping within Malayic subfamily, and suggests an alternative approach which is "to dissolve the Malay node and keep everything in the Malayic group".
  2. ^ This classification is still in use in the current 22nd edition (2019).[8]
  3. ^ Alongside other various South Sumatran isolects which exhibit the *-R > *-ʔ innovation in a specific set of lexemes.
  4. ^ *t is listed as dental by Adelaar (1992)

References

Citations

Bibliography