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Papuan Malay or Irian Malay is a Malay-based creole language spoken in the Indonesian part of New Guinea. It emerged as a contact language among tribes in Indonesian New Guinea (now Papua, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, West Papua, and Southwest Papua) for trading and daily communication. Nowadays, it has a growing number of native speakers. More recently, the vernacular of Indonesian Papuans has been influenced by Standard Indonesian, the national standard dialect. It is spoken in Indonesian New Guinea alongside 274 other languages[2] and functions as a lingua franca.
| Papuan Malay | |
|---|---|
| Irian Malay | |
| Native to | Indonesia |
| Region | Western New Guinea |
Native speakers | unknown; 500,000 combined L1 and L2 speakers (2007)[1] |
Malay Creole
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | pmy |
| Glottolog | papu1250 |
Papuan Malay belongs to the Malayic sub-branch within the Western-Malayo-Polynesian (WMP) branch of the Austronesian language family.[3]
Some linguists have suggested that Papuan Malay has its roots in North Moluccan Malay, as evidenced by the number of Ternate loanwords in its lexicon.[4] Others have proposed that it is derived from Ambonese Malay.[5]
Four varieties of Papuan Malay can be identified.[5]
Deictic Expressions
Deictic expressions are expressions that provide orientation to the hearer relative to the extralinguistic context of the utterance.[6] The context may include features of the speech situation such as: who is speaking; the time and place of discourse; gestures of the speaker; and the location of the discourse.[6]
Demonstratives and locatives are types of deictic expressions. In Papuan Malay there exists a two-term demonstrative system and a three-term locative system.[7]
Both of these systems are distance-oriented. This means that the relative distance of the speaker in time and place ultimately defines the reference point to which the deictic expression refers.
For example, the speaker in (1) is in conversation about people living in a house and the speaker uses the proximal demonstrative ini to illustrate that the person they are talking to 'lives here' in the house.
As (1) illustrates, demonstratives and locatives function primarily to provide spatial orientation. However, there are a number of other functions that these classes of words serve. The following table outlines the different domains of use of demonstratives and locatives.
| Domains of Use | Function | DEM | LOC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spatial | to provide spatial orientation to the hearer | X | X |
| Figurative locational | to signal a figurative locational endpoint | X | |
| Temporal | to indicate the temporal setting of the situation or event talked about | X | X |
| Psychological | to signal the speakers' psychological involvement with the situation or event talked about | X | X |
| Idenitficational | to aid in the identification of definite or identifiable referents | X | |
| Textual anaphoric | to keep track of a discourse antecedent | X | X |
| Textual discourse deictic | to establish an overt link between two prepositions | X | |
| Placeholder | to substitute for specific lexical items in the context of word-formulation trouble | X |
Demonstratives
Demonstratives are determiners that indicate the spatial, temporal or discourse location of a referent.
In Papuan Malay’s two-term demonstrative system, one is used to indicate proximity of the referent to the speaker and the other is used distally.
The demonstratives in Papuan Malay also have long and short forms, as illustrated in Table 2.[7]
| Papuan Malay DEM | Long form | Short form |
|---|---|---|
| proximal | ini D.PROX 'this' |
ni D.PROX 'this' |
| distal | itu D.DIST 'that' |
tu D.DIST 'that' |
The following examples show how Papuan Malay’s two demonstratives signal either proximity or distance.
The example above, (1), and the following example (2) illustrate how ini/ni is used to indicate spatial closeness, and (3) shows how itu/tu is used to indicate distance between the referent and speaker.
By drawing the hearer’s attention to specific objects or individuals in the discourse or surrounding context, the speaker is able to use demonstratives to provide spatial orientation whether the referent is perceived as being spatially close to the speaker, or further away.
Long and Short Demonstrative Forms
In (2) and (3), the short demonstrative form has been used.
The short forms are largely a result of fast-speech phenomena and they serve the same syntactic function as the long forms.[12]
In terms of their domains of use, the short forms share all the same domains of use as the long forms except for identificational and placeholder uses where the short forms are not employed.[10]
The following examples, (4) and (5), show how demonstratives may be used as placeholders. In these cases, only the long form may be used.
(4)
Placeholder for a proper noun[13]
saya
1SG
ingat
remember
ini
D.PROX
Ise
Ise
'I remembered, what's-her-name, Ise'
(5)
Placeholder for a verb[13]
skarang
now
sa
1SG
itu
D.DIST
simpang
store
sratus
one.hundred
ribu
thousand
'Now I (already), what's-its-name, set aside one hundred thousand (rupiah)'
Locatives
Locatives are a class of words that signal distance, both spatial and non-spatial, and consequently provide orientation for the hearer in a speech situation.[14]
Papuan Malay’s three-term locative system consists of the locatives as outlined in Table 4.[7]
| Papuan Malay LOC | |
|---|---|
| proximal | sini L.PROX 'here' |
| medial | situ L.MED 'there' |
| distal | sana L.DIST 'over there' |
The functions and uses of locatives include the following:
- Spatial uses
- Figurative locational uses
- Temporal uses
- Psychological uses
- Textual uses
Spatial Uses of Locatives
Spatial locatives have the role of designating the location of an object or individual in terms of its relative position to the speaker, and they focus the attention of the hearer to the specified location.[15]
In general, proximal sini indicates a referent’s closeness to the deictic centre and distal sana indicates distance from this reference point. For medial situ, the distance signalled is somewhat mid-range. That is, the referent is further away from the speaker than the referent of sini but not as far as that of sana.
In (6), sini is used to indicate the close location of an entity to the speaker, while (7) highlights the semantic distinctions between sini and sana.
(6)
Spatial uses of sini 'L.PROX'[16]
sa
1SG
su
already
taru
put
di
at
ember
bucket
sini
L.PROX
'I already put (the fish) in the bucket here'
(7)
Spatial uses of sini and sana[16]
dong
3PL
juga
also
duduk
sit
di
at
sana
L.DIST
tong
1PL
juga
also
duduk
sit
di
at
sini
L.PROX
'They also sit (outside) over there, we also sit (outside) here'
In context, the distances signalled by these terms are variable considering such distances are relative to the speaker. The use of these spatial deictics are also dependent on the speaker’s perception of how near or far a referent is.
The following example, (8), demonstrates how the use of these spatial deictics are dependent on perception, using situ and sana to illustrate this. In (8), the speaker discusses the construction work that has reached the village of Warmer.
(8)
Spatial uses of situ and sana[17]
yo.
yes
mulay
start
menuju
aim.at
jembatang
bridge
Warmer
Warmer
...
...
kalo
if
dari
from
situ
L.MED
ke
to
sana
L.DIST
'Yes, (they) started working towards the Warmer bridge ... when (they'll work the stretch of street) from there to over there'
Syntactically, locatives in Papuan Malay only occur in prepositional phrases. These prepositional phrases can be peripheral adjuncts, prepositional predicates, or adnominal prepositional phrases.
The following examples – (9), (10), and (11) – demonstrate each of the prepositional phrases in which locatives can occur. In (10), the first clause shows how the locative can be embedded in a peripheral adjunct, whilst the second clause illustrates its occurrence in prepositional predicates.
(9)
Locatives in peripheral adjuncts[18]
kam
2PL
datang
come
ke
to
sini,
L.PROX
kam
2PL
biking
make
kaco
be.confused
saja
just
'You come here, you're just stirring up trouble'
(10)
Locatives in peripheral adjuncts and prepositional predicates[18]
ko
2SG
datang
come
ke
to
sini
L.PROX
nanti
very.soon
bapa
father
ke
to
situ
L.MED
'You come here, then I ('father') (go) there'
(11)
Locatives in adnominal prepositional phrases[18]
orang
person
dari
from
sana
L.DIST
itu
D.DIST
...dorang
3PL
itu
D.DIST
kerja
work
sendiri
be.alone
'Those people from over there, ... they work by themselves'
History of Papuan Malay locative forms
As with the demonstratives, the locative forms in Papuan Malay are present in some other languages in the Austronesian language family tree.
For each of the locatives, the forms can be traced back to Proto-Western-Malayo-Polynesian (PWMP).
The proximal locative sini is reconstructed in PWMP as *si-ni and has retained the semantic function of indicating closeness. A number of other WMP languages also share the form and meaning of sini including: Aborlan Tagbanwa, Sangil, Kayan, and Malay.
Whilst the Papuan Malay medial and distal locatives, situ and sana, share the same form as the reconstructed forms in PWMP, there are notable differences in terms of spatial reference when comparing cognates in other WMP languages.
For medial situ, the corresponding reflexes in Ifugaw and Kenyah both indicate closeness rather than medial distance. On the other hand, for the Malay language, situ is used distally rather than proximally or medially. The WMP language that is most similar to Papuan Malay in this regard is Aborlan Tagbanwa where both the form and designated spatial distance are shared.
| WMP Language | Reflex | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Ifugaw | hitú | here; this |
| Aborlan Tagbanwa | s-itu | there |
| Kenyah (Long San) | s-itew | here |
| Malay | situ | position over there |
For distal sana, Papuan Malay shares the same form and meaning with a number of other WMP languages including Kankanaey and Malay. It cannot be assumed, however, that this is the case for all WMP languages as Bontok shares the form sana but is used to indicate proximity to the hearer rather than just distance from the speaker.
| WMP Language | Reflex | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Kankanaey | sána | that, there, thither |
| Malay | sana | yonder, over there, yon |
| Bontok | sana | that one, close to hearer; there, close to hearer |
Possession
Possession is encoded by the general structure POSSESSOR-punya-POSSESSUM, where the 'possessum' is the 'thing' being possessed by the possessor - the unit preceding punya). A typical example is shown below;[21]
(12)
nanti
eventually,
Hendro
Hendro
pu
POSS
ade
ySb
prempuang
woman
kawin...
marry.unofficially
'eventually, Hendro's younger sister would marry ...'
In the canonical form, similar to (12), a lexical noun, personal pronoun or demonstrative pronoun form the POSSESSOR and POSSESSUM noun phrases.
A further example is presented below;
(13)
Fitri
Fitri
pu
POSS
ini
D.PROX
Fitri's (belongings,right.there)*
*words in brackets indicate the understood referent of a personal pronoun or demonstrative, established from the context of the utterance
As shown in (13), the long punya possessive marker can also be reduced to the short pu, an alteration which appears to be independent of the syntactic or semantic properties of the possessor and possessum.
A further reduction to =p is possible, but only if the possessor noun phrase ends in a vowel, shown below;
(14)
sa
1SG
bilang,
say
i,
ugh!
sa=p
1SG=POSS
kaka
oSb
3SG
say
ko=p
2SG=POSS
kaka
oSb
'I said 'ugh!, (that's) my older sister', she said, 'your older sister?
This is most common when the possessor is a singular personal pronoun (two instances of which are found in (14)), and provides an explanation for why 'Hendro punya ...'
is observed in (11), rather than the reduced theoretical possibility of 'Hendro=p'.
A final canonical possibility is the total omission of the possessive marker (indicated with a ø symbol), but this is generally restricted to inalienable possession of body parts and
kinship relations, the former seen in (4) below;
(15)
adu,
oh.no!
bapa
father
ø
mulut
mouth
jahat
be.bad
skali
very
'oh no, father's language is very bad' (lit. 'father's mouth')
Other, less typical/more complex 'non-canonical' combinations are also possible, where the possessor and/or possessum can consist of verbs, quantifiers and prepositional phrases.
Such constructions can denote locational (16), beneficiary (17), quantity-intensifying (18), verb-intensifying (19) and emphatic (20) possessive relations.
(16)
Jayapura
Jayapura
pu
POSS
dua
two
blas
tens
orang
person
yang
REL
lulus
pass(a.test)
ka
or
'aren't there twelve people from Jayapura who graduated?' (lit. 'Jayapura's twelve people')
In Papuan Malay, it can be seen from (16) that being in or at a location is expressed as being 'of' (in a possessive sense) the location itself (the syntactic possessor).
The possessive marker can also direct attention to an action or object's beneficiary, where the benefiting party occupies the possessor position;
(17)
dong
3PL
su
already
bli
buy
de
3SG
punya
POSS
alat~alat
REDUP~equipment
ini
D.PROX
'they already bought these utensils for him' (lit. 'his utensils')
In this instance, the possessive marker is an approximate substitute for the English equivalent marker 'for ___'. This demonstrates that the construction doesn't have to describe a realised possession; the mere fact that the possessor is the intended beneficiary of something (the possessum) is sufficient in marking that something as possessed by the possessor, regardless of whether the possessum has actually been received, experienced or even seen by the possessor.
Where the possessum slot is filled by a quantifier, the possessive construction elicits an intensified or exaggerated reading;
(18)
tete
grandfather
de
3SG
minum
drink
air
water
pu
POSS
sedikit
few
'grandfather drinks very little water' (lit. 'few of')
However, this is restricted to few and many quantifiers, and numerals in the same possessum slot yield an ungrammatical result. As such, substituting sedikit with dua (two) in (18) would not be expected to be present in language data.
Intensification using punya or pu is also applicable to verbs;
(19)
adu,
oh.no!
dong
3PL
dua
two
pu
POSS
mendrita
mendrita
'oh no, the two of them were suffering so much' (lit. 'the suffering of')
Here, the verbal sense of the possessum is owned by the possessor. i.e., the two of them in (19) are the syntactic 'owners' of the suffering, which semantically intensifies or exaggerates the quality of the verb suffering, hence translated as so much for its English representation.
Along similar lines to (19), a verbal possessum can also be taken by a verbal possessor, expressing an emphatic reading;
(20)
mama
mother
de
3SG
masak
cook
punya
POSS
enak
be.pleasant
'mother really cooks very tastily' (lit. 'the being tasty of the cooking')
As indicated by the insertion of adverbials in the English translation otherwise syntactically absent in Papuan Malay (20), the verbal-possessor-punya-verbal-possessum construction elicits emphatic meaning and tone. The difference to (19) being that in (20), the verbal quality of the possessum constituent is being superimposed upon another verb element, rather than to a pronominal possessor, to encode emphasis or assertion.
A final possibility in Papuan Malay possessive constructions is elision of the possessum, in situations where it can be easily established from context;
(21)
itu
D.DIST
de
3SG
punya
POSS
ø
'those are his (banana plants)'
Unlike the general freedom of possessive marker form for both canonical and non-canonical constructions (11-20), the long punya form is almost exclusively used when a possessum is omitted, possibly as a means of more markedly sign-posting the possessum's elision.
Examples
Examples:
- Ini tanah pemerintah punya, bukan ko punya! = It's governmental land, not yours!
- Tong tra pernah bohong = We never lie.
| 1PL | 1st person plural |
| 1SG | 1st person singular |
| 2PL | 2nd person plural |
| 2SG | 2nd person singular |
| 3PL | 3rd person plural |
| 3SG | 3rd person singular |
| D.DIST | demonstrative, distal |
| D.PROX | demonstrative, proximal |
| DEM | demonstrative |
| L.DIST | locative, distal |
| L.MED | locative, medial |
| L.PROX | locative, proximal |
| LOC | locative |
| ySb | younger sibling |
| oSb | older sibling |
| PWMP | Proto-Western-Malayo-Polynesian |
| WMP | Western-Malayo-Polynesian |
Consonants
The table below shows the 18 consonant phonemes of Papuan Malay. The voiceless stops are usually unreleased at the end of a syllable. The phoneme /r/ has three allophones: a voiced alveolar trill, a voiceless alveolar trill, and a voiced alveolar tap.[22]
Vowels
There are 5 vowel phonemes in Papuan Malay.[23]
Vowel allophones
Below are the allophones of Papuan Malay vowels.[23]
Vowels in closed syllables are centralized:
| Orthographic | Phonetic | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| tinggi | [tɪŋ.gi] | 'be high'[24] |
In the closed syllable [tɪŋ], the phoneme /i/ is realized as [ɪ]. In the open syllable [gi], the phoneme is realized as [i].
- Ambonese Malay
- North Moluccan Malay
- Serui Malay
- Vanimo Malay
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