Malayic languages

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Malayic
Geographic distribution:	South East Asia
Genetic classification:	Austronesian  Malayo-Polynesian (MP)   Nuclear MP    Malayo-Sumbawan     Malayic
Subdivisions:	Malayan Ibanic (Malayic Dayak) Banjar
The Malayic languages The Ibanic languages (orange) are found mostly inland in western Kalimantan, perhaps the homeland of the Malayic peoples, and across Sarawak. The Malayan languages (dark red) range from central Sumatra (their homeland), across Malaya, and throughout coastal Kalimantan. The excluded area in northwest Kalimantan (between the orange and red) is the Land Dayak languages, which are not closely related.

The Malayic languages are a branch of the Sunda-Sulawesi languages of the Austronesian family. They include Malay, the national language of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei; Minangkabau in central Sumatra; and Iban in northern Borneo.

It is thought that the homeland of the Malayic languages is in western Borneo, where the Ibanic languages remain. Then Malayan branch represents a secondary dispersal, probably from central Sumatra but possibly also from Borneo.^[1]

For some time there was confusion as to the placement of various languages called Dayak; it is now apparent that some of these are Malayic and some are not. The Malayic Dayak languages include Iban; the term Ibanic sometimes applies to the whole or sometimes to a smaller group of Sea Dayak peoples, or Ibanic proper. Other Dayak languages, called Land Dayak, are found in the northwest corner of Kalimantan, between Ibanic and Malayan.

[edit] Languages

• Malayan languages (Minangkabau, Malay, Banjar)
• Ibanic languages, or Malayic Dayak (Iban and related tongues)
• Banjarese

Although Banjarese, with six million speakers, is commonly considered "local Malay",^[2] a 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database^[3] was not able to verify that it is even Malayic. The study was only able to determine with 80% confidence that Banjar is closer to Malayan and Ibanic than it is to other Malayo-Sumbawan languages. It does appear that it is the most divergent Malayic language included in the study.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Ethnologue entry for Malayic