Malayic languages

The Malayic languages are a branch of the Malayo-

Malayic
Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian language family. The
most prominent member is Standard Malay, which is the Geographic Maritime Southeast Asia
national language of Brunei and Malaysia, and which also distribution
serves as basis for Indonesian, the national language of Linguistic Austronesian
Indonesia. The Malayic branch also includes the local classification
Malayo-Polynesian
languages spoken by ethnic Malays (e.g. Kutai Malay, Kedah
disputed:
Malay), further several languages spoken by various other Malayo-Sumbawan or
ethnic groups of Sumatra (e.g. Minangkabau) and Borneo (e.g. Greater North Borneo
Iban). The most probable candidate for the homeland of the Malayic
Malayic languages is western Borneo.
Subdivisions (disputed)

Glottolog mala1538 (http://glottolog.org/

resource/languoid/id/mala1538)[1]
Contents
History
Languages
Subgrouping
Internal classification
Adelaar (1993)
Ross (2004)
Anderbeck (2012)
Smith (2017) The distribution of the Malayic languages in the
Other proposals Maritime Southeast Asia:
Position within Austronesian The Ibanic and Western Malayic Dayak
Reconstruction (Kanayatn/Kendayan-Salako) subgroups, also
Phonology known collectively as "Malayic Dayak"
Morphology
Other Malayic varieties; genetic
Notes
relationships between them are still unclear
References
Citations
Bibliography

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:

Rejang
Embaloh
Salako
Iban-Malayan

Iban
Malayan
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, and on several islands located in the South
China Sea and the Strait of Malacca.

Borneo

Bamayo, Banjar, Berau, Brunei, Bukit, Kendayan, Keninjal, Kota Bangun Kutai, Tenggarong Kutai, Ibanic (Iban,
Remun, Mualang, Seberuang, Sebuyau)
Malay Peninsula

Jakun, Kedah Malay, Perak Malay, Pahang Malay, Orang Kanaq, Kelantan-Pattani Malay, Temuan, Terengganu
Malay
Sumatra

Central Malay, Col, Haji, Jambi Malay, Kaur, Kerinci, Kubu, Lubu, Minangkabau, Musi, Pekal
South China Sea/Strait of Malacca

Bangka, Duano, Loncong, Orang Seletar, Urak Lawoi'

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.[2]

Iban
(Main branch)

Standard Malay
Minangkabau
Middle Malay
Banjarese
Jakartanese
Others

Ross (2004)
Based on grammatical evidence, Ross (2004) divides the Malayic languages into two primary branches:[3]

Western Malayic Dayak (Kendayan, Salako)

Nuclear Malayic (all other lects)
This classification is mirrored in the Glottolog (Version 3.4).

Anderbeck (2012)
Following Tadmor (2002), Anderbeck (2012) makes a distinction between Malay and Malayic in his discussion about
the dialects of the Sea Tribes in Riau Archipelago. He tentatively classifies all Malayic languages as belonging to a
"Malay" subgroup, except Ibanic, Kendayan/Selako, Keninjal, Malayic Dayak (or "Dayak Malayic") and the "fairly
divergent varieties" of Urak Lawoi' and Duano.[4][a]

Ibanic
Kendayan/Selako
Keninjal
Malayic Dayak
Urak Lawoi'
Duano
Malay (including all other Malayic varieties)
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".[6] However, he leaves
other isolects unclassified.

West Bornean Malayic

Kendayan-Salako (= Ross' "Western Malayic Dayak")

Besemah[c]
Ibanic

Iban
Seberuang
Mualang
Keninjal
Other Malayic (not a genetic subgroup)

Standard Malay
Jakarta Malay
Ketapang Malay
Banjarese Malay
Kutai Malay
Brunei Malay

Other proposals
Omar & Yahaya (2018) argue for the inclusion of various speech varieties of the Malayic Orang Asli (often labelled,
misleadingly, as "Proto Malays") in the same subgroup with Malay,[d] except for Duano, which must have diverged far
earlier.[7]

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:[8]

Malayo-Sumbawan

Malayo-Chamic-BSS
 Malayic languages
Chamic languages
Bali-Sasak-Sumbawa languages
Sundanese
Madurese

Blust (2010) and Smith (2017) assign Malayic to the Greater North Borneo subgroup:[9][10]

Greater North Borneo

North Borneo languages

Central Sarawak languages
Kayan–Murik languages
Land Dayak languages
Malayo–Chamic

Chamic languages
Malayic languages
Rejang language
Sundanese language

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.

Reconstruction

Phonology
Proto-Malayic has a total of 19 consonants and 4 vowels.[11]

Proto-Malayic Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Voiceless p t[e] c k ʔ
Plosive
Voiced b d ɟ ɡ
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Fricative s h
Liquid l ʀ
Approximant w y

Proto-Malayic Vowels
Height Front Central Back
Close i /i/ u /u/
Mid ə /ə/
Open a /a/

There are 2 diphthongs:

*-ay
*-aw

Morphology
Proto-Malayic lexemes are mostly disyllabic, though some have one, three, or four syllables. Lexemes have the
following syllable structure:[11]

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

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

Notes
a. 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".
b. This classification is still in use in the current 22th edition (2019).[5]
c. Alongside other various South Sumatran isolects which exhibit the *-R > *-ʔ innovation in a specific set of
lexemes.
d. Specifically, the Jakun, Temuan, Urak Lawoi', Kanak, and Seletar languages.
e. /t/ is listed as dental by Adelaar (1992)

References

Citations
1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Malayic" (http://glottolog.org/resource/la
nguoid/id/mala1538). Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
2. Adelaar 1993, p. 568.
3. Ross 2004, pp. 106–108.
4. Anderbeck 2012, p. 284.
5. Eberhard, Simons & Fennig 2019.
6. Smith 2017, p. 197.
7. Omar & Yahaya 2018, pp. 462–463.
8. Adelaar 2005, p. 358.
9. Blust 2010.
10. Smith 2017, pp. 364–365.
11. Adelaar 1992, p. 102.

Bibliography
Adelaar, K. Alexander (1992). Proto-Malayic: The Reconstruction of its Phonology and Parts of its Lexicon and
Morphology. Pacific Linguistics, Series C, no. 119. Canberra: Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific
Studies, the Australian National University.
Adelaar, K. Alexander (1993). "The Internal Classification of the Malayic Subgroup". Bulletin of the School of
Oriental and African Studies. University of London,. 56 (3): 566–581. JSTOR 620695 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/
620695).
Adelaar, Alexander (2005). "Malayo-Sumbawan". Oceanic Linguistics. 44 (2): 357–388. JSTOR 3623345 (https://
www.jstor.org/stable/3623345).
Anderbeck, Karl (2012). "The Malayic speaking Orang Laut: Dialects and directions for research" (https://www.res
earchgate.net/publication/307763519_The_Malayic-speaking_Orang_Laut_Dialects_and_directions_for_researc
h). Wacana: Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia. 14 (2): 265–312. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
Bellwood, Peter; Fox, James J.; Tryon, Darrell (2006). The Austronesians: historical and comparative
perspectives (https://www.oapen.org/download?type=document&docid=458826). ANU E Press. ISBN 978-1-