The Malayic languages are a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian language family. The most prominent member is Malay, which is the national language of Brunei,

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borderin ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Malays ...

; it further serves as basis for

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

, the national language of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. In ...

. The Malayic branch also includes the local languages spoken by

Indonesians Indonesians (Indonesian: ''orang Indonesia'') are citizens or people originally from Indonesia, regardless of their ethnic or religious background. There are more than 1,300 ethnicities in Indonesia, making it a multicultural archipelagic coun ...

and

ethnic Malays Malays ( ms, Orang Melayu, Jawi: أورڠ ملايو) are an Austronesian ethnic group native to eastern Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and coastal Borneo, as well as the smaller islands that lie between these locations — areas that are col ...

(e.g. Banjarese,

Kutai Kutai is a historical region in what is now known as East Kalimantan, Indonesia on the island of Borneo and is also the name of the native ethnic group of the region (known as ''Urang Kutai'' or "the Kutai people"), numbering around 300,000 who ...

Kedah Malay Kedah Malay or Kedahan (); also known as ''Pelat Utara'' or ''Loghat Utara'' ('Northern Dialect') or as it is known in Thailand, Syburi Malay () is a variety of the Malayic languages mainly spoken in the northwestern Malaysian states of Perl ...

), further several languages spoken by various other ethnic groups of

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent is ...

, Indonesia (e.g.

Minangkabau Minangkabau may refer to: * Minangkabau culture, culture of the Minangkabau people * Minangkabau Culture Documentation and Information Center * Minangkabau Express, an airport rail link service serving Minangkabau International Airport (''see below' ...

) and

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

(e.g.

Iban IBAN or Iban or Ibán may refer to: Banking * International Bank Account Number Ethnology * Iban culture * Iban language * Iban people The Ibans or Sea Dayaks are a branch of the Dayak peoples on the island of Borneo in South East Asia. ...

). The most probable candidate for the

urheimat In historical linguistics, the homeland or ''Urheimat'' (, from German '' ur-'' "original" and ''Heimat'', home) of a proto-language is the region in which it was spoken before splitting into different daughter languages. A proto-language is the ...

of the Malayic languages is western Borneo.

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 Lampung ( Lampung: ), officially the Province of Lampung ( id, Provinsi Lampung) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southern tip of the island of Sumatra. It has a short border with the province of Bengkulu to the northwest, and a ...

and Madurese. narrowed down the range of Malayic, but included the non-Malayic languages Rejang and Embaloh: * Rejang * Embaloh *

Salako Salako is a hat from Îles des Saintes ( French Antilles). It appeared towards the end of the 19th century. It is made on Terre-de-Bas Island by some last craftsmen who still have the art and the technics of its making. Description Salako is th ...

*Iban-Malayan **

**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 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

), based on phonological, morphological and lexical evidence.

Languages

Malayic languages are spoken on

, the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula ( Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's most ...

and on several islands located in the South China Sea and the

Strait of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connec ...

. Borneo * Bamayo,

Banjar Banjar may refer to: People *Banjar people The Banjar or Banjarese ( bjn, Urang Banjar; ) are an indigenous ethnic group native to the Banjar regions (notably Banjarmasin, Banjarbaru, Banjar Regency, etc.) in the southeastern Kalimantan h ...

, Berau, Brunei, Bukit, Kendayan, Keninjal, Kota Bangun Kutai, Tenggarong Kutai, Ibanic (

Remun Remun, or Milikin, is an Ibanic Dayak language of Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian ...

, Mualang, Seberuang) Malay Peninsula * Jakun,

Kedah Kedah (), also known by its honorific Darul Aman and historically as Queda, is a state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a total area of over 9,000 km2, and it consists of the mainland ...

, Kelantan-Patani,

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan'') is a state in Malaysia which lies on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It borders Selangor on the north, Pahang in the east, and Malacca and Johor to the s ...

, Orang Kanaq,

Orang Seletar Orang Seletar (also known as Selitar or Slitar) are one of the 18 Orang Asli ethnic groups in Malaysia. They are classified under the Proto-Malay people group, which forms the three major people group of the Orang Asli. The Orang Seletar are also ...

Perak Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...

Pahang Pahang (;Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Pahang Hulu Malay: ''Paha'', Pahang Hilir Malay: ''Pahaeng'', Ulu Tembeling Malay: ''Pahaq)'' officially Pahang Darul Makmur with the Arabic honorific ''Darul Makmur'' (Jawi: , "The Abode of Tranquility") is a ...

, Reman, Temuan,

Terengganu Terengganu (; Terengganu Malay: ''Tranung'', Jawi: ), formerly spelled Trengganu or Tringganu, is a sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia. The state is also known by its Arabic honorific, ''Dāru l- Īmān'' ("Abode of Faith"). ...

Sumatra * Central Malay, Col,

Haji Hajji ( ar, الحجّي; sometimes spelled Hadji, Haji, Alhaji, Al-Hadj, Al-Haj or El-Hajj) is an honorific title which is given to a Muslim who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca. It is also often used to refer to an elder, since it ...

, Jambi Malay, Kaur, Kerinci, Kubu, Lubu,

, Musi, Pekal Java * Betawi South China Sea/Strait of Malacca * Bangka, Duano, Loncong,

, 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. *

*(''Main branch'') **

Standard Malay Malaysian Malay ( ms, Bahasa Melayu Malaysia), also known as Standard Malay (Malay: ''Bahasa Melayu Standard''), ( English translation: Malaysian language), or simply Malay, is a standardized form of the Malay language used in Malaysia (as o ...

** Middle Malay ** Banjarese ** Jakartanese **Others

Ross (2004)

Based on grammatical evidence, Ross (2004) divides the Malayic languages into two primary branches: *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 The Riau Archipelago is a ''geographic'' term (as opposed to administrative region) for the core group of islands within the Riau Islands Province in Indonesia, and located south of Singapore and east of Riau on Sumatra. Before the province of ...

. 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. *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. *West Bornean Malayic ** Kendayan-

(= Ross' "Western Malayic Dayak") ** Besemah ** Ibanic ***

*** Seberuang *** Mualang *** Keninjal *''Other Malayic'' (not a genetic subgroup) **

** Betawi **

Ketapang Ketapang or ''Tau-pang'' in Teochew is the capital city of Ketapang Regency (''Kabupaten Ketapang''), one of the regencies of West Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo in Indonesia. Ketapang city is located at and is a small city on t ...

** Banjarese **

Brunei Malay The Brunei Malay language, or Kedayan (, Jawi: ) is the most widely spoken language in Brunei and a lingua franca in some parts of Sarawak and Sabah, such as Labuan, Limbang, Lawas, Sipitang and Papar.Clynes, A. (2014). Brunei Malay: An Overv ...

Position within Austronesian

The inclusion of the Malayic languages within the

Malayo-Polynesian The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeast ...

subgroup is undisputed, and there is general consensus that the

Chamic languages The Chamic languages, also known as Aceh–Chamic and Achinese–Chamic, are a group of ten languages spoken in Aceh (Sumatra, Indonesia) and in parts of Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Hainan, China. The Chamic languages are a subgroup of Malay ...

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 The Malayo-Sumbawan languages are a proposed subgroup of the Austronesian languages that unites the Malayic and Chamic languages with the languages of Java and the western Lesser Sunda Islands (western Indonesia), except for Javanese (Adelaar ...

subgroup, which comprises the following languages: *Malayo-Sumbawan **Malayo-Chamic-BSS ***Malayic 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 ***

***Malayic languages **

Rejang language Rejang (, ) is an Austronesian language predominantly spoken by the Rejang people in southwestern parts of Sumatra ( Bengkulu), Indonesia. There are five dialects, spread from mountainous region to the coastal region of Bengkulu, including the ...

Sundanese language Sundanese (: , ; Sundanese script: ) is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by the Sundanese. It has approximately 40 million native speakers in the western third of Java; they represent about 15% of Indonesia's total population. Classifica ...

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

Phonology

Proto-Malayic has a total of 19 consonants and 4 vowels. There are 2

diphthong A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...

s: * *-ay * *-aw

Word structure

Proto-Malayic lexemes are mostly disyllabic, though some have one, three, or four syllables. Lexemes have the following syllable structure: :''Note'': C = consonant, V = vowel, N = nasal

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * Nothofer, Bernd. 1975. The reconstruction of Proto-Malayo-Javanic. (Verhandelingen van het KITLV, 73.) The Hague: Nijhoff. * * * * {{Borneo Languages of Indonesia Languages of Malaysia Malayo-Chamic languages