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 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.

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:


 * 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, Java 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, Sarawak, Ibanic (Iban, Remun, Mualang, Seberuang)


 * Malay Peninsula
 * Jakun, Kedah, Kelantan-Patani, Negeri Sembilan, Orang Kanaq, Orang Seletar, Perak, Pahang, Reman, Temuan, Terengganu, Urak Lawoi'


 * Sumatra
 * Central Malay, Col, Haji, Jambi Malay, Kaur, Kerinci, Kubu, Lubu, Minangkabau, Musi, Pekal


 * Java
 * Betawi


 * South China Sea/Strait of Malacca
 * Bangka, Duano, Loncong, Orang Seletar,


 * Maluku
 * Bacan Malay

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.


 * Malayic
 * Iban
 * Malay
 * Minangkabau
 * Middle Malay
 * Banjarese
 * Jakartanese
 * Others
 * Others

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 is 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". However, he leaves other isolects unclassified.


 * Malayic
 * West Bornean Malayic
 * Kendayan-Salako (= Ross' "Western Malayic Dayak")
 * Besemah
 * Ibanic
 * Iban
 * Seberuang
 * Mualang
 * Keninjal
 * Other Malayic (not a genetic subgroup)
 * Malay
 * Betawi
 * Ketapang
 * Banjarese
 * Kutai
 * Brunei 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
 * Malayic languages
 * Chamic languages
 * Bali-Sasak-Sumbawa languages
 * Sundanese
 * Madurese

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


 * 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.

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

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:

"* [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.
 * *-əy, *-iw, *-uy > *-i; *-əw > *-u.
 * *z > *j (pronounced almost the same, an orthographic change), *-D-, *-j- > *-d-.
 * Final-obstruent devoicing of *-b, *-d, and *-g to *-p, *-t, *-k, except in the case of *-D > *-r.
 * *-ə- before *-h > *-a-, e.g. *tanəq > *tanəh > *tanah "land". Before other consonants, Proto-Malayic preserved PMP *ə in final closed syllables (e.g. *daləm "inside"). This schwa is retained in Betawi (including the Indonesian slang), Bangka Malay and Palembang Malay, but was merged with *-a- elsewhere.
 * *w- > *∅-.
 * *q > *h, *h > *∅.
 * *R > *r.
 * C¹C² (with the first consonant is non-nasal) becomes C² in reduplications (affixes escaped this sound change).
 * C¹C² (with the first consonant is heterorganic nasal) is changed to homorganic, e.g. *DəmDəm to *dəndəm.