Proto-Malayic | |
---|---|
Reconstruction of | Malayic languages |
Region | See #Urheimat |
Reconstructed ancestors |
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.
According to H. Kern's work in 1917, 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 selatan "south", being derived from 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. [1]
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. [2] *ʔ, which only occurred word-finally, is preserved in Iban, although it is often not represented orthographically (Iban pakuʔ, Betawi paku ← *pakuʔ "nail"). [3]
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 |
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.
Proto-Malayic lexemes are mostly disyllabic, though some have one, three, or four syllables. Lexemes have the following syllable structure: [2]
* [C V (N)] [C V (N)] [C V (N)] C V C
The following are the phonological changes from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian to Proto-Malayic. [4]
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