PROTO MALAYIC VOWEL PHONEME REFLEX IN MALAY LANGUAGE

. The Malay language is spoken in a relatively wide area in Indonesia. One of the areas is the Merangin Regency, Jambi province. Prior studies indicate that the Malay language in Merangin has not yet received much attention, especially one that examines its relationship with the parent language. This study aims to explicate the Proto Malayic vowel phoneme reflexes in the Malay language spoken in the regency. Data for this field research is obtained from participants, in 4 observation points, who have responded to a list of structured questions and from the speakers whose conversing is recorded. The comparative method is used to analyze the data and the top-down approach is employed to see the reflexes. This study found that the Proto-Malayic vowel phoneme reflexes in the Observation Point 1 has more variations than those in other points. The variations which are determined by the environment or places in which the vowel phoneme exists generally occur in the ultimate syllable . The variations are very likely caused by the influence of other languages, including the languages of the immigrants living in the observed area.


INTRODUCTION
Malay is one of the groups of Malayic languages that is directly related because it is derived from a common ancestor. As it is widely spoken, Malay language becomes an important part of the Austronesian language family (Collins, 2005). Merangin, Jambi province is one of many areas where the language is spoken. The Malay language spoken in that area is reasonable to study because language research in Merangin is still limited, especially diachronic studies that examine the relationship between Malay and its parent language. No research has addressed the issue.
Studies of the Malay language and the Malayic group in Jambi and other areas has enriched the literature of Malay language spoken in the Sumatera island. A study of the distribution of phonological variation of language spoken along Batanghari and Kerinci river, Jambi, by Nadra et al. (2005), shows that the phonological variation spoken is caused among others by the geographic condition, history of the people and the language, and transportation. Another study by Nadra et al. (2008) investigated the origin and the direction of migration of the Minangkabau people in Jambi based on dialectal variation. The study concluded that the Minangkabau in Jambi primarily came from Kotobaru, West Sumatera. Riswara (2012), in her research of reconstruction of vowel prefix of Malay proverb, identified six proto phoneme vowels that are assumed to reduce the number of vowel variations in modern Malay isolects. Saputra (2015), in his study of phonological and lexical reconstruction of Kerinci language, Kota Sungai Penuh isolects, reconstructed six vowels proto phonemes, ten diphthongs, and nine-teen consonants.
A study investigates lexical variations of three isolects in the Riau Malay language family (Syahril, 2017). The isolects are Tualang, Kesumbo Ampai, and Pelalawan, spoken in Siak, Bengkalis, and Pelalawan Regency. The results of the study showed that there is no difference between 1) Tualang and Pelalawan isolects and between (2)  Afria (2017) conducted a phonological reconstruction of the Kerinci isolects, one of the groups of Malayic languages in Bukit Kerman district, Jambi Province, and found 6 vowels, 7 diphthongs, and 19 consonants. Kusuma et al. (2018) carried out a regional language mapping in Jambi, focused on Tanjung Jabung Timur and Tanjung Jabung Barat. They concluded that there are 5 languages spoken in both districts. They are Malay, Banjar, Bugis, Javanese, and Bajau (Tungkal).
A recent study of the Jambi Malay language is done by (Krulikowska et al., 2020). Krulikowska et al. investigated the phonology of Sarolangun isolect and claimed that the phonological system of the language consists of six vowels, three diphthongs, and twenty consonants. Two diphthongs are original and one is a loan. Nineteen of the consonants are original phonemes and one is a loan phoneme. Besides that, the paper also discusses various features found in Sarolangon like nasalization and laxing of vowels, consonants and syllable deletion, or glide insertion.
The studies mentioned above have contributed to the phonological information of the Malay language spoken in different areas of Indonesia. However, it appears that none of the studies specifically deals with the phoneme reflex of Proto-Melayic of Malay spoken in the Merangin Regency. The present study is aimed to fill in the gap.
There are some other reasons for conducting this research. Firstly, Merangin Regency is an area that is passed by the Trans-Sumatra Toll Road; most of the residents are migrants, either from Java or West Sumatera. Secondly, this area is close to a region whose people speak Kerinci language. These demographic and geographical situations might contribute to the changes in the form of the Malay language spoken in Merangin. Thus, it is considered important to conduct a study on Malay in Merangin Regency as early as possible so that the language features in Malay do not disappear.
Forms of languages spoken today originated from those used in the past, called proto-languages (ancient languages). A proto-language is a form of language hypothesized to be the origin of languages or isolects used nowadays. In this research, the ancient language from which the Malay languages are derived, as stated by Adelaar (1992), is the Proto Malayic (hereafter, PM).
Merangin Regency is one district in Jambi Province. Geographically, Merangin borders with Bungo Regency in the north, with Lebong Regency, Bengkulu Province in the south, Sarolangun regency in the east, and Kerinci regency in the west. Astronomically, it locates between 101°32'39"-102°38'35" East longitude and 1°39'23"-2°46'9" South Latitude, with an area of 7679 km2 (Badan Pusat Statistik Kabupaten Merangin, 2019) This research is limited to four observation points (abbreviated as OP) in four sub-districts in Merangin Regency. The villages or sub-districts used as observation points are Renah Alai in Jangkat district (OP 1), Bukit Perentak in Pangkalan Jambu district (OP 2), Pasar Atas Bangko urban village in Bangko district (OP 3), and Karang Birahi in Pamenang district (OP 4). Geographically, the observation point areas are quite far from each other so that there will be less communication among speakers in those areas. Besides, the selection of the observation points is done based on the speakers' origin, border areas, and living distance to the city. The area of observation-point 1, as mentioned by Karim et al. (2017), is an area with many indigenous people; though surrounded by people transmigrated from other areas like Java, West Sumatera, and Batak. The area of observation-point 2 is located on the border, which is the border of Kerinci regency and the language in this area has been influenced by the language spoken by people in Kerinci regency. Furthermore, the area of observation-point 3 is opted as the observation point due to its strategic location. It is situated in the center of Merangin Regency so that the language spoken in the area has likely developed differently from others in Merangin regency. Lastly, the area of observation-point 4 is also original and is recorded in history as the place of the discovery of inscriptions. Manguin (2009) states that there is an inscription in Karang Birahi village, Pamenang district, namely Karang Berahi which is the heritage of Sriwijaya Kingdom that is considered as the initial evidence of the use of Malay in this village. Thus, the selection of the four observation points is expected to generally represent the use of Malay in Merangin Regency.
The research areas can be seen from the figure 1 (Merangin Regency) and map 2 (Observation Points (OP). Based on the background, it is obvious that the current research is novel and different from other previous research, perceived from its scope, focus, area, and research purposes. This research merely focuses on the reflex of Proto Malayic vowel phonemes spoken in Merangin Regency. The research question is: "What kinds of reflex of Proto Malayic vowel phonemes in Malay spoken in the four observation points in Merangin Regency?" Based on the research question, it can be understood that this

METHOD
This study is based on a field research conducted in four locations selected as the observation points. The observation points are (1) Renah Alai village in Jangkat sub-district (OP 1), Bukit Perentak village in Pangkalan Jambu sub-district (OP 2), Pasar Atas Bangko urban village in Bangko sub-district (OP 3), and Karang Birahi village in Pamenang subdistrict (OP 4). Data are obtained from informants who responded to a list of structured-questions. The informants are native Malay speakers originally coming from the area under study. Data are also collected by listening to the speakers conversing in the language in the area. The researcher did not involve in the conversation.
The comparative method is used to analyze the data. This term is currently used to refer simply to study of the history of words or languages (Crowley & Bowern, 2010). This means that the vowel phonemes of Proto Malayic compare with the phonemes of Malay language in Merangin Regency to see the similarities and differences. For this reason, a top-down approach is used. The technique is to look at the refleks of Proto Malayic vowels to the Malay language in Merangin. For this purpose, the Proto Malayic language reconstructed by Adelaar (1992)

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The Proto Malayic vowel phonemes consist of four vowels: *a, *ə, *i, and *u. Besides, for the antepenultimate position, there is *A in Proto Malayic. The following points out Proto Malayic vowel phonemes reflexes that are discovered in Malay language in Merangin Regency.

PM *a
The phoneme reflex of PM *a consist of eight types.

PM *ǝ
The PM phoneme reflex *ə consist of five types.
The reflex difference found in each OP is determined by the position or environment in which the vowel is located. In addition, the reflex of the vowell phoneme PM *ə in OP 1, 2, and 4, does not only involve vowel but also a diphthong. In the penultimate position, the vowel phoneme reflex *ə in all OP is ə, except in OP 2, a reflex of a vowel o is found.

PM *i
The PM phoneme reflex *i consist of eight types.

PM *i / _# > OP 1 i, iw, OP 2, 3, 4 i
The PM phoneme reflex *i found at the end of a word are i and iw in OP 1; whereas in OP 2, 3, and 4, vowel i is discovered.  Based on the analyzed data, there are 6 different reflexes found for the PM vowel phoneme *i in OP 1; they are: i, iw, ey, ay, e, and ie; while in OP 2, 3, and 4, the reflex remained the same as the PM phoneme forms, i.e. i, except for PM *i, which is in the final position before *R (PM *i / -*R#). In OP 1, the reflex found are e and ie. As in OP 3 and 4, the reflex are e and i. In OP 1, the reflex of vowel *i tended to undergo diphthongization. Meanwhile, in OP 2, the diphthong reflex is only found for vowel *i at the end before *R. At the penultimate position, the phoneme reflex *i in all OP is the same; it is similar to its Proto-Malayic phoneme (i in all OPs).

PM *u
The PM phoneme reflex *u consist of ten types.
Overall, it can be concluded that of the four observation points (OP), the phoneme reflex of Proto-Malayic vowel in OP 1 are more varied compared to the other three areas. This generally occurs in the ultimate syllables. Interestingly, the changes are determined by the situation or places in which the phoneme exists; whether it is in the ending of a word or in the final position before a certain consonant (i.e. consonant phoneme after the vowel). The difference of the consonant phoneme behind prompts different vowel reflex. Additionally, the Proto-Malayic vowel phoneme in the ultimate syllables also tends to change to be a diphthong. In the penultimate position, the PM vowel phoneme reflex has no difference with the vowel phoneme itself, except for the PM phoneme *ə in OP 2 that has 2 variations of reflex: ə and o. Lastly, the phoneme reflex *A on the antepenultimate syllables in OP 2, 3, and 4 are all a; while in OP1, there are three variations: e, ǝ, Ø. In other words, in OP1, some of the reflex is e, some is ə, and some are missing (Ø). The loss of *A PM phoneme in the antepenultimate syllable usually coincides with the loss of the antepenultimate syllable itself. Hence, its lexicon will change from three syllables to two syllables. In this case, the third syllable from the end (antepenultimate) is missing.
In the penultimate syllable, the PM vowel phoneme reflex is similar with the PM vowel itself. That is to say, there is no difference except for the phoneme *ə in OP2 (its reflex is o). For instance, the PM *bǝŋkaˀ 'swollen' becomes boŋkaˀ and PM *kǝruh 'cloudy' turns to be koRuh in OP2.
Various variations of vowel phoneme reflex in OP 1 is assumed to occur because the location is situated closely to speakers of other different languages such as Kerinci, Javanese, and Minangkabau languages. As discussed at the outset, people in Merangin are mostly transmigrants from Java and West Sumatera. This is one of the triggers of various PM vowel phoneme reflex in OP 1.
Based on the description above, it is apparent that more variations of vowel phoneme reflex in OP 1 are caused by the influence of other languages spoken around the region like Kerinci and Minangkabau languages. This is clearly seen from the PM vowel phoneme reflex on the ultimate syllable that tends to undergo diphthongization as in the Minangkabau language. From all vowel phonemes, vowel *a has more variations of reflex compared to other vowel phonemes. There are ten vowel phoneme reflexes of *a: ia, ie, ea, ey, ay, i, a, e, u, and o. As of *ə, there are six vowel phoneme reflexes: ie, ay, ə, a, o, and e. Similarly, phoneme reflex *i also consists of six variations: iw, ey, ay, ie, i, and e. Regarding phoneme reflex of *u, there are five variants: uw, ou, uy, u, and o. Lastly, four reflexes of *A are identified: a, e, ə, and ø.

CONCLUSION
The research results show a variety of Proto Malayic vowel phoneme reflexes in each observation point. Variations generally emerge on the ultimate syllable, including those which end up with vowel or consonant. The variation is determined by the places the vowel phoneme exists. From the four observation points (OP) studied, the first OP has more variations which are contrasted to other OPs. This variation is affected by other languages spoken in the area, especially the language of transmigrants. Of all the vowel phonemes, vowel *a has varied reflexes compared to other vowel phonemes. It implies that the phoneme reflex *a is strongly influenced by the circumstance in which the phoneme occurs.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This article is written based on the results of a research funded by the Faculty of Humanities, Andalas University, under the "Postgraduate Research Team Scheme 2020, with contract number: B/02/ UN.16.7/D/PT.01.03/2020". The authors would like to thank the university for the endowment given so that this research can be carried out. A gratitude is also expressed to the participants who have provided oral data of Malay in the four regions being studied in Merangin, Jambi.