Malayo-Sumbawan languages

Malayo-Sumbawan
Geographic distribution:	Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Vietnam, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara
Linguistic classification:	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian (MP) Nuclear MP Malayo-Sumbawan
Subdivisions:	Sundanese Madurese Malayic & West Nusa Tenggara
The Malayo-Sumbawan languages The languages in Cambodia, Vietnam, Hainan, and the northern tip of Sumatra are Aceh–Chamic languages (purple). The Ibanic languages (orange) are found mostly inland in western Borneo, perhaps the homeland of the Malayic peoples, and across Sarawak. The Malayan languages (dark red) range from central Sumatra, across Malaya, and throughout coastal Kalimantan. Sundanese (pink), Madurese (ocher), and the Bali–Sasak languages (green) are found in and around Java.

The Malayo-Sumbawan languages are a group of languages identified by Adelaar (cit. Adelaar & Himmelmann 2005) that unites the Malayic and Chamic languages with the languages of Java and the western Lesser Sunda Islands, except for Javanese itself. If valid, it would be the largest demonstrated family of Malayo-Polynesian outside Oceanic.

There are Javanese similarities with Balinese and Sasak of the Lesser Sundas, which several classifications have taken as evidence for a relationship between them. However, the similarities are with the "high" registers (formal language/royal speech) of Balinese and Sasak; when the "low" register (commoner speech) is considered, the connection appears instead to be with Madurese and Malay. Thus Balinese and Sasak are included in Malayo-Sumbawan, while Javanese is excluded. This is somewhat similar to the situation with English, where more 'refined' vocabulary suggests a connection with French, but basic language demonstrates its relationship to German.

Classification

Adelaar (2005)

According to Adelaar (2005), the composition of the family is as follows:

Note: BSS = "Bali–Sasak–Sumbawa"

• Malayo-Sumbawan
• Sundanese (1 or 2 languages of western Java; incl. Baduy)
• Madurese (2 languages of eastern Java and Madura; incl. Kangean)
• Malayo-Chamic–BSS
  • Aceh–Chamic (a dozen languages, including Acehnese in Aceh and Cham in Vietnam)
  • Malayic (a dozen languages dispersed from either western Borneo or central Sumatra, including Malay (Malaysian/Indonesian), Minangkabau in central Sumatra, and Iban of western Borneo)
  • Bali–Sasak–Sumbawa (3 languages)

Javanese is specifically excluded; the connections between Javanese and Bali–Sasak are restricted to the 'high' register, and disappear when the 'low' register is taken as representative of the languages.

Sundanese appears to share sound changes specifically with Lampungic, but Lampungic does not fit into Adelaar's Malayo-Sumbawan.

Gray, et. al. (2008)

A 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database found moderate to poor lexical support for Malayo-Sumbawan: a 60% confidence level with Chamic, rising to 75% without Chamic but keeping Bali–Sasak, and 85% without either Chamic or Bali–Sasak. However, the resulting family is broader than Andelaar's proposal, including not just Moklen and Javanese but nearly all of the languages of the Greater Sunda Islands that were considered: Lampungic, Rejang, and the various branches of Northwest Sumatran excluding the Northern Barrier Islands (Nias etc.).

The languages supported by the 2008 study, including the confidence level for each grouping, are as follows:

Chamic–Sumbawan (60%)

• Moklen–Chamic (70%)
  • Moklen
  • Aceh–Chamic
• Bali–Malayic (75%)
  • Bali–Sasak
  • Batak–Malayic (85%)
    • Batak
    • Java–Malayic (75%)
      • Gayo
      • Rejang
      • Lampungic
      • Javanese
      • Sunda–Malayic (70%)
        • Sunda–Madurese (75%)
          • Sundanese
          • Madurese
        • Banjar–Malayic (80%)
          • Banjar
          • Malayic proper (100%)

(The Enggano and Mentawai languages of Sumatra were not considered.) The difficulty in establishing Malayo-Sumbawan may be due to the fact that lexical similarities are often due to a Sprachbund rather than a genealogical connection.

References

• K. Alexander Adelaar and Nikolaus Himmelmann, The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar. Routledge, 2005.
• Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database[1]