The term "Malayic" was first coined by Dyen (1965) 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 and Madurese. Nothofer (1988) narrowed down the range of Malayic, but included the non-Malayic languages Rejang and Embaloh:
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, 1993), based on phonological, morphological and lexical evidence.
While there is general consensus about which languages can be classified as Malayic, the internal subgrouping of the Malayic languages is still disputed.
Following Tadmor (2002), Anderbeck (2012) makes a distinction between Malay and Malayic in his discussion about the dialects of the Sea TribesinRiau Archipelago. 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.[7][a]
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.[b]
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".[9] However, he leaves other isolects unclassified.
The inclusion of the Malayic languages within the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup is undisputed, and there is general consensus that the Chamic languages 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 subgroup, which comprises the following languages:[10]
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.
*-ə- before *-h > *-a-, e.g. *tanəq > *tanəh > *tanah "land". Before other consonants, Proto-Malayic preserved PMP *ə in final closed syllables (e.g. *daləm "inside"). This schwa is retained in Betawi (including the Indonesian slang), Bangka Malay and Palembang Malay,[15] but was merged with *-a- elsewhere.
*w- > *∅-.
*q > *h, *h > *∅.
*R > *r.
C¹C² (with the first consonant is non-nasal) becomes C²inreduplications (affixes escaped this sound change).
C¹C² (with the first consonant is heterorganic nasal) is changed to homorganic, e.g. *DəmDəmto*dəndəm.
^As with Adelaar, Anderbeck reckons the difficulty in assigning absolute subgrouping within Malayic subfamily, and suggests an alternative approach which is "to dissolve the Malay node and keep everything in the Malayic group".
^This classification is still in use in the current 22nd edition (2019).[8]
^Alongside other various South Sumatran isolects which exhibit the *-R > *-ʔ innovation in a specific set of lexemes.
^Asmah Haji Omar (1992). "Malay as a pluricentric language". In Clyne, Michael J. (ed.). Malay as a pluricentric language Pluricentric Languages: Differing Norms in Different Nations. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyte. pp. 403–4. ISBN3-11-012855-1. Singapore has maintained the name Malay or bahasa Melayu...
^Bellwood, Peter; Fox, James J.; Tryon, Darrell, eds. (2006). The Austronesians: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. Canberra: ANU Press. doi:10.22459/a.09.2006. ISBN978-1-920942-85-4.
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.
Adelaar, K. Alexander (1993). "The Internal Classification of the Malayic Subgroup". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 56 (3). University of London: 566–581. doi:10.1017/s0041977x00007710. JSTOR620695. S2CID162636623.
Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019). "Malayic". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22 ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
Nothofer, Bernd. 1975. The reconstruction of Proto-Malayo-Javanic. (Verhandelingen van het KITLV, 73.) The Hague: Nijhoff.
Nothofer, Bernd (1988). "A discussion of two Austronesian subgroups: Proto-Malay and Proto-Malayic". In Mohd. Thani Ahmad; Zaini Mohamed Zain (eds.). Rekonstruksi dan cabang-cabang Bahasa Melayu induk. Siri monograf sejarah bahasa Melayu. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. pp. 34–58.
Nothofer, Bernd (1995). "The History of Jakarta Malay". Oceanic Linguistics. 34 (1): 87–97. JSTOR3623113.
Ross, Malcolm D. (2004). "Notes on the prehistory and internal subgrouping of Malayic". In John Bowden; Nikolaus Himmelmann (eds.). Papers in Austronesian subgrouping and dialectology. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. pp. 97–109.
Tadmor, Uri (2002). Language contact and the homeland of Malay. The Sixth International Symposium of Malay/Indonesian Linguistics (ISMIL 6), Bintan Island, 3–5 August 2002.
