Malayic languages

The Malayic languages are a branch of the Austronesian family. They include Malay, the national language of Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia; Minangkabau in central Sumatra; and Iban in northern Borneo.

It is thought that the homeland of the Malayic languages is in western Borneo, where the Ibanic languages remain. The Malayan branch represents a secondary dispersal, probably from central Sumatra but possibly also from Borneo.

For some time there was confusion as to the placement of various languages called Dayak; it is now apparent that some of these are Malayic and some are not. The Malayic Dayak languages include Iban; the term Ibanic sometimes applies to the whole or sometimes to a smaller group of Sea Dayak peoples, or Ibanic proper. Other Dayak languages, called Land Dayak, are found in the northwest corner of Kalimantan, between Ibanic and Malayan.

Languages

• Malayan languages (Minangkabau, Malay)
• Ibanic languages, or Malayic Dayak (Iban and related tongues)
• Urak Lawoi’

Several of the Ibanic languages are also sometimes placed separately in Malayic.

Classification

Adelaar (1993) classifies the Malayic languages as follows.

• Proto-Malayic
  • Iban
  • (Main branch)
    • Standard Malay
    • Minangkabau
    • Middle Malay
    • Banjarese
    • Jakartanese
    • Others

Nothofer (1988), however, gives the following classification for the Malayic branch.

• Proto-Malayic
  • Rejang
  • Embaloh
  • Salako
  • Iban-Malayan
    • Iban
    • Malayan

Reconstruction

Phonology

Proto-Malayic has a total of 19 consonants and 4 vowels (Adelaar 1992:102).

Proto-Malayic Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	Voiceless	p	t	c	k	ʔ
	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 (Adelaar 1992:102):

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

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

References

• 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, Vol. 56, No. 3 (1993), pp. 566–581.
• Nothofer, Bernd. 1975. The reconstruction of Proto-Malayo-Javanic. (Verhandelingen van het KITLV, 73.) The Hague: Nijhoff.
• Nothofer, Bernd. 1988. "A discussion of two Austronesian subgroups: Proto-Malay and Proto-Malayic." In Mohd. Thani Ahmad and Zaini Mohamed Zain (eds.) 1988. Rekonstruksi dan cabang-cabang Bahasa Melayu induk, pp. 34–58. Siri monograf sejarah bahasa Melayu. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.