Proto-Malayic is a reconstructedproto-language of theMalayic languages, which are nowadays widespread throughoutMaritime 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 byK. Alexander Adelaar in 1992.
According to H. Kern's work in 1917,Taalkundige gegevens ter bepaling van het stamland der Maleisch-Polynesische volkeren, theUrheimat (homeland) of the Proto-Malayic speakers was proposed to be at theMalay Peninsula, based on the Malay wordselatan "south", being derived fromselat "strait".Kerinci sound-changes and phonotactics by D. J. Prentice in 1978, believed that the core of theMalay language was on the both sides of theStrait of Malacca, although the Malayic Dayak languages were not included.
However, Adelaar rejected Kern's proposal, and instead placing the Urheimat inBorneo, as the languages there have undergone little Sanskrit or Arabic influence.[1]
Proto-Malayic had a total of 19 consonants and 4 vowels. Palatals (except*y) and voiced plosives cannot end a word, while onlyhomorganic nasal–stop or*ŋs sequences are allowed in Proto-Malayic. Adelaar listed*t as a dental consonant, not alveolar.[2]*ʔ, which only occurred word-finally, is preserved in Iban, although it is often not represented orthographically (Ibanpakuʔ, Betawipaku ←*pakuʔ "nail").[3]
According to Adelaar, there were only 2diphthongs:*-ay, and*-aw. However, Anderbeck in 2012 posited an older diphthong*-uy, which is only present inDuano (though this may be due to the non-Malayic substratum), and was merged with-i elsewhere.
C¹C² (with the first consonant is non-nasal) becameC² inreduplications (affixes escaped this sound change).
C¹C² (with the first consonant isheterorganic nasal) was changed to homorganic, e.g.*DəmDəm to*dəndəm.
*ə- caused insertion of homorganic nasals before stops (*həpat >*əmpat "four"). The nasal insertion can also occur in other vowels, for example*utuŋ >*untuŋ and*tukəd >*tuŋkət, but this is sporadic.
*-ə- in final closed syllables was preserved in Proto-Malayic (e.g.*daləm "inside"), but only retained inBetawi (including theIndonesian slang),Bangka Malay andPalembang Malay (specifically the Palembang Lama variety).[6][7] It was merged with*-a- elsewhere (>*dalam).
Remaining instances of*-ə- were merged with-a- inBanjarese andMinangkabau, but retained elsewhere.[8]
*-aba- is only retained inIban, and changed to*-awa- elsewhere (*laban >*lawan).[9]
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/ə/,/o/,/e/, or even as high as/ɨ/ and/u/. The outcomes vary by dialect. Uri Tadmor claimed that this change was caused byJavanese influence.[10] A notable exception to this rule isHaji in South Sumatra, which preserved original*a.[11]
^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.
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.ISBN978-0-85883-408-8.
Nothofer, Bernd (1995). "The History of Jakarta Malay".Oceanic Linguistics.34 (1):87–97.doi:10.2307/3623113.JSTOR3623113.
McDowell, Jonathan; Anderbeck, Karl (2020)."The Malay Lects of Southern Sumatra"(PDF).Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society Special Publication.13 (5).
