Proto-Malayic is a reconstructed proto-language of the Malayic languages, which are spread in the 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 was done by K. Alexander Adelaar in 1992.
| Proto-Malayic | |
|---|---|
| Reconstruction of | Malayic languages |
Reconstructed ancestors | |
Phonology
editProto-Malayic has a total of 19 consonants and 4 vowels.[1]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | Voiceless | *p | *t[2] | *c | *k | *ʔ |
| Voiced | *b | *d | *ɟ | *ɡ | ||
| Nasal | *m | *n | *ɲ | *ŋ | ||
| Fricative | *s | *h | ||||
| Liquid | *l | *r | ||||
| Approximant | *w | *j | ||||
| Height | Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | *i | *u | |||||
| Mid | *ə | ||||||
| Open | *a |
There are 2 diphthongs:
- *-ay
- *-aw
Word structure
editProto-Malayic lexemes are mostly disyllabic, though some have one, three, or four syllables. Lexemes have the following syllable structure:[1]
* [C V (N)] [C V (N)] [C V (N)] C V C
- Note: C = consonant, V = vowel, N = nasal
Phonological changes
editTowards proto-Malayic
editThe following are the phonological changes from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian to Proto-Malayic.[3]
- *-əy, *-iw, *-uy > *-i; *-əw > *-u. Note that *-uy is still preserved in Duano (məloŋoy < *laŋuy "to swim").[4]
- *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".
- *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
edit- *-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).[5][6] It was merged with *-a- elsewhere (> *dalam).
- Remaining instances of *-ə- were merged with -a- in Banjarese and Minangkabau, but retained elsewhere.[7]
- *-aba- is only retained in Iban, and changed to *-awa- elsewhere (*laban > *lawan).[8]
- Final *a is still preserved in most of Borneo, but in Sumatra or the Malay peninsula, it most often mutates into another vowel, including /ə/, /o/, /e/, or even as high as /ɨ/ and /u/. The outcomes vary by dialect. Uri Tadmor claimed that this change was caused by Javanese influence.[9]
References
edit- ^ a b Adelaar 1992, p. 102.
- ^ *t is listed as dental by Adelaar (1992)
- ^ Adelaar 1992, p. 195.
- ^ Anderbeck, Karl (2012). "The Malayic speaking Orang Laut: Dialects and directions for research". Wacana: Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia. 14 (2): 265–312. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
- ^ McDowell & Anderbeck 2020, pp. 14–15.
- ^ Nothofer 1995, pp. 88–89.
- ^ Adelaar 1992, pp. 40.
- ^ Adelaar 1992, pp. 75.
- ^ Tadmor, Uri (2003). "Final /a/ mutation: a borrowed areal feature in Western Austronesia" (PDF). In Lynch, John (ed.). Issues in Austronesian historical phonology. Pacific Linguistics 550. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. pp. 15–36.
Bibliography
edit- 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. hdl:1885/145782.
- Nothofer, Bernd (1995). "The History of Jakarta Malay". Oceanic Linguistics. 34 (1): 87–97. JSTOR 3623113.
- McDowell, Jonathan; Anderbeck, Karl (2020). "The Malay Lects of Southern Sumatra" (PDF). Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society Special Publication. 13 (5).
External links
edit
Look up Category:Proto-Malayic language in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.