The Madurese Reflexes of Proto-Malayopolynesian

Abstract

1. Although Madurese' has retained some archaic features of proto-Malayopolynesian (PMP) such as the distinction between dental and alveolar stops, it has not seriously been used for the reconstruction of either the PMP phonemic system or of individual PMP morphemes. The most comprehensive work on PMP phonology, that of Dempwolff,2 mentions Madurese once (2.123); Dempwolff's comment is: 'Nirgends stdsst man auf Laute, die Anlass bieten, die Lautsystem des UIN3 zu erginzen oder zu verbessern.' Madurese is also mentioned in Dyen's work on subgrouping the MP languages.4 Madurese here shows a higher percentage with Malay (by about seven percent on a 196 word Swadesh list) than would be expected if it were a coordinate member of a group containing Javanese and Sundanese. The latter has been the standard view.' This is not unlikely since Madurese has plainly borrowed heavily from Malay. On the other hand, it has also borrowed many words from Javanese. It is necessary to keep this in mind in considering the Madurese reflexes. In this paper I would like to examine the Madurese reflexes and the evidence presented by Madurese for both the reconstruction of the PMP phonemic system and of some individual morphemes. All reconstructed forms are from Dempwolff (volume 3) except those later changed by Dyen. In some cases it will be noted that Madurese presents no evidence for a problematic part of PMP. In other cases, Madurese will be used to decide the correct reconstruction where Dempwolff or Dyen has an ambiguous form. 1 Madurese is a Malayopolynesian language spoken by about six million people in the eastern part of Java and the adjacent island of Madura. Research was carried out in Indonesia from November 1960 to March 1962 with the aid of a Ford Foundation Area Training Fellowship. Madurese forms in this paper are taken from this research and from H. Kiliaan, Madoereesch-Nederlandsch Woordenboek (Leiden, 1904). 2 0. Dempwolff, 'Vergleichende Lautlehre des austronesischen Wortschatzes', Zeitschrift fuir EingeborenenSprachen (Berlin): 1. 'Induktiver Aufbau einer indonesischen Ursprache', 15. Beiheft (1934), 2. 'Deduktive Anwendung des Urindonesischen auf austronesische Einzelsprachen', 17. Beiheft (1937), 3. 'Austronesisches Worterverzeichnis', 19. Beiheft (1938). For a list of the PMP phonemes see Dempwolff 3.9 (with d' omitted and Z later added by I. Dyen, 'ProtoMalayopolynesian *Z', Language 27.534-40 [1951]). I have used certain symbols which differ from Dempwolff's. In the following list, my symbol precedes and Dempwolff's follows the comma: c, k'; e, a; j, g'; n, A; q, h; r, 1; R, y; s, t'; w, v; y, j; z, d'; D, d; T, t. Dempwolff's 'is not transcribed at all. Dempwolff also has a brief account of the Madurese reflexes of PMP *r, *1, *d, *D, *R, and *j in 'Die 1-, r-, und d-Laute in austronesischen Sprachen', ZfES 15.278-80 (1925). In a number of places his conclusions are incorrect. 3 Urindonesisch (proto-Indonesian) which Dempwolff later identifies, as far as the sound system is concerned, with Uraustronesisch (proto-Austronesian) here called proto-Malayopolynesian. 4 I. Dyen, 'A lexicostatistical classification of the Austronesian languages' 48, IJAL Memoir 19 (Baltimore, 1965). 5 See S. J. Esser, Atlas van Tropisch Nederland map 9 (The Hague, 1938) and R. Salzner, Sprachenatlas des indopazifischen Raumes 1.11 (Wiesbaden, 1960).