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Wikipedia / Malayic languages

The Malayic languages are a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian language family. The most prominent member is Malay, a pluricentric language given national status in Brunei and Singapore while also providing the basis for national standards Malaysian in Malaysia and Indonesian in Indonesia. The Malayic branch also includes local languages spoken by ethnic Malays (e.g. Jambi Malay, Kedah Malay), further several languages spoken by various other ethnic groups of Sumatra, Indonesia (e.g. Minangkabau) and Borneo (e.g. Banjarese, Iban) even as far as Urak Lawoi in the southwestern coast of Thailand.

In addition, the Malayic languages have been also used as lingue franche throughout Eastern Indonesia, such as Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara Islands, Maluku Islands, and Papua. The most probable candidate for the urheimat of the Malayic languages is western Borneo prior to spread in Sumatra.

History

The term "Malayic" was first coined by 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. narrowed down the range of Malayic, but included the non-Malayic languages Rejang and Embaloh:

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, Java and on several islands located in the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca. This list is limited to Malayic languages traditionally spoken by their respective ethnic groups, for non-traditional languages, see Malay trade and creole languages.

Borneo

Sumatra

Malay Peninsula

Java

South China Sea

Subgrouping

Internal classification

While there is general consensus about which languages can be classified as Malayic, the internal subgrouping of the Malayic languages have remained inconclusive.

Adelaar (1993)

Adelaar (1993) classifies the Malayic languages as follows.

Malayic

Ross (2004)

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

Malayic

  • Western Malayic Dayak (Kendayan, Salako)

  • Nuclear Malayic (all other lects)

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

Anderbeck (2012)

Following , 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.

Malayic

  • 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.

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".

Malayic

West Bornean Malayic

Ibanic

Other Malayic (not a genetic subgroup)

Glottolog

Glottolog 5.2 classifies the Malayic languages into several groups, namely:

Malayic

Western Malayic Dayak

Ibanic

Iban–Mualang–Seberuang

Iban–Seberuang

Northern Iban

Nuclear Malayic

South Sumatra Malay

Standard Malay–Indonesian

Betawic

Central Sumatran Malay

Music

East Borneo Malay

Banjar–Berau–Brunei Malay

Banjar–Bukit Malay

Berau–Brunei Malay

Bruneic Malay

Brunei–Bacan Malay

Northern Sumatra Malay

Bangka–Belitung Malay

Kerinci–Minangkabau

Minangkabauic

Greater Riau–Johoric

Northeastern Peninsular Malay

Vehicular Malay

Eastern Indonesia Trade Malay

Ambonic Malay

Manadoic Malay

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:

Malayo-Sumbawan

Malayo-Chamic-BSS

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

Greater North Borneo

Malayo–Chamic

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.

See also

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

  • Nothofer, Bernd. 1975. The reconstruction of Proto-Malayo-Javanic. (Verhandelingen van het KITLV, 73.) The Hague: Nijhoff.