Papuan Malay of New Guinea: Melanesian influence on verb and clause structure

Abstract

Of the Malay varieties of Southeast Asia, Papuan Malay is the most removed both geographically and linguistically from the “homeland” of Malay. While showing no more lexical differences than other Malay varieties, it represents an extreme divergence from the morphosyntax of the better-described varieties to the west. Verbs, and their place in clause structure, represent the area where this is most apparent, almost certainly representing influence from the Melanesian languages that were the native languages of the first speakers of an early variety of Papuan Malay.