Proto-Malayic language explained

Proto-Malayic
Familycolor:	Austronesian
Ancestor:	Proto-Austronesian
Ancestor2:	Proto-Malayo-Polynesian
Target:	Malayic languages
Region:	See Urheimat

Proto-Malayic is a reconstructed proto-language of the Malayic languages, which are nowadays widespread throughout Maritime Southeast Asia. Like most other proto-languages, Proto-Malayic was not attested in any prior written work. The most extensive study on the proto-language, Proto-Malayic: The Reconstruction of its Phonology and Parts of its Lexicon and Morphology, was done by K. Alexander Adelaar in 1992.

Urheimat

According to H. Kern's work in 1917, Dutch; Flemish: Taalkundige gegevens ter bepaling van het stamland der Maleisch-Polynesische volkeren, the Urheimat (homeland) of the Proto-Malayic speakers was proposed to be at the Malay Peninsula, based on the Malay word Malay: selatan "south", being derived from Malay: selat "strait". Kerinci sound-changes and phonotactics by D. J. Prentice in 1978, believed that the core of the Malay language was on the both sides of the Strait of Malacca, although the Malayic Dayak languages were not included.

However, Adelaar rejected Kern's proposal, and instead placing the Urheimat in Borneo, as the languages there have undergone little Sanskrit or Arabic influence.

Phonology

Proto-Malayic had a total of 19 consonants and 4 vowels. Palatals (except *y) and voiced plosives cannot end a word, while only homorganic nasal–stop or *ŋs sequences are allowed in Proto-Malayic. Adelaar listed *t as a dental consonant, not alveolar. *ʔ, which only occurred word-finally, is preserved in Iban, although it is often not represented orthographically (Iban pakuʔ, Betawi paku ← *pakuʔ "nail").

Proto-Malayic Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	Voiceless	p	t	c	k	ʔ
	Voiced	b	d	j	ɡ
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Fricative			s			h
Liquid			l		r
Approximant		w		y

Proto-Malayic Vowels! colspan="2"

Height	Front		Central		Back
Close		i				u
Mid				ə
Open				a

According to Adelaar, there were only 2 diphthongs: *-ay, and *-aw. However, Anderbeck in 2012 posited older diphthong *-uy, which is only present in Duano, and was merged with -i elsewhere.

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

Phonological changes

Towards proto-Malayic

The following are the phonological changes from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian to Proto-Malayic.

• *-əy, *-iw, *-uy > *-i; *-əw > *-u. Note that *-uy is still preserved in Duano (məloŋoy < *laŋuy "to swim").^[1]
• *z > *j (pronounced 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".
• *w- > *∅-.
• *q > *h, *h > *∅.
• *R > *r.
• C¹C² (with the first consonant is non-nasal) became C² in reduplications (affixes escaped this sound change).
• C¹C² (with the first consonant is heterorganic nasal) was changed to homorganic, e.g. *DəmDəm to *dəndəm.
• *ə- caused insertion of homorganic nasals before stops (*həpat > *əmpat "four").

Post proto-Malayic

• *-ə- in final closed syllables was preserved in Proto-Malayic (e.g. *daləm "inside"), but only retained in Betawi (including the Indonesian slang), Bangka Malay and Palembang Malay (specifically the Palembang Lama variety). It was merged with *-a- elsewhere (> *dalam).
• Remaining instances of *-ə- were merged with -a- in Banjarese and Minangkabau, but retained elsewhere.
• *-aba- is only retained in Iban, and changed to *-awa- elsewhere (*laban > *lawan).
• Final *a is still preserved in most of Borneo (excluding the western parts), but in Sumatra or the Malay peninsula, it most often mutates into another vowel, including pronounced as //ə//, pronounced as //o//, pronounced as //e//, or even as high as pronounced as //ɨ// and pronounced as //u//. The outcomes vary by dialect. Uri Tadmor claimed that this change was caused by Javanese influence.^[2] A notable exception to this rule is Haji in South Sumatra, which preserved original *a.^[3]

References

Bibliography

• Book: 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. 1885/145782 . free.
• Nothofer . Bernd . The History of Jakarta Malay . Oceanic Linguistics . 34 . 1 . 1995 . 87–97 . 10.2307/3623113 . 3623113.
• McDowell. Jonathan. Anderbeck. Karl. The Malay Lects of Southern Sumatra.. Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society Special Publication. 13 . 5 . 2020.

Notes and References

1. Anderbeck . Karl . 2012 . The Malayic speaking Orang Laut: Dialects and directions for research . Wacana: Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia . 14 . 2 . 265–312 . 26 May 2019.
2. Book: Tadmor, Uri . 2003 . Final /a/ mutation: a borrowed areal feature in Western Austronesia. John . Lynch . 15–36 . Pacific Linguistics 550 . Canberra . Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University . https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/146173/1/PL-550.pdf. Issues in Austronesian historical phonology.
3. Book: Anderbeck, Karl. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324494558. Haji: One language from twelve? A brief description of an interesting Malay dialect in South Sumatra. Reflections in Southeast Asian seas: Essays in honour of Professor James T. Collins: Book II. 51–91. 2007.