Cover not available

In:The Documentarist Turn: From observable linguistic behaviour to typological generalizations
Edited by Sonja Riesberg, Uta Reinöhl and Birgit Hellwig
[Studies in Language Companion Series 240] 2026
► pp. 844–865

Chapter 30
Of Malays, Moluccans and Papuans

The development and spread of Malay in Papua

ORCiD logo with link | Lacito-CNRS | The Australian National University
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
Little is certain about the origins of Papuan Malay. The literature offers two opposing viewpoints: one is that Papuan Malay arose out of centuries of Malay use in New Guinea connected with indigenous trade networks centred on Ternate and the North Moluccas, the other is that Papuan Malay arose very late as part of colonial policies in the 20th century. The chapter presents the first examination of these conflicting claims on the basis of an in-depth analysis of the lexicon of Papuan Malay and Malay loanwords along the north coast of New Guinea. Papuan Malay is shown to have a significant lexical component from Ternate, like other vehicular Malays in the region. Despite this, the evidence as a whole supports the theory of a recent, not historically distant, origin for Papuan Malay.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Relationship of Papuan Malay to other Malays
  • 3.The role of a Malay trade pidgin in the formation of Papuan Malay
  • 4.Conclusion and discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (33)
References
Adelaar, K. Alexander. 1992. Proto-Malayic: The Reconstruction of Its Phonology and Parts of Its Lexicon and Morphology. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Adelaar, K. Alexander, and David J. Prentice. 1996. “Malay: Its History, Role and Spread.” In Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas, ed. by Stephen A. Wurm, Peter Mühlhäusler, and Darrell T. Tryon, 673–693. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anceaux, J. C. no date. Nieuwguinees Maleis — Nederlands. Leiden University Special Collections, J.C. Anceaux Collection, Or. 615, Folder 88.
van Asperen, Lubbert. 1936. Zending en Zendingsonderwijs op ederlandsch-Nieuw Guinee. Leiden: M. Dubbeldeman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bink, G. L. 1894. “Tocht van den zendeling Bink naar de Humboldts-baai.” Tijdschrift van het Aardrijkskundig Genootschap 11: 325–332.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1902. “Lijst van woorden opgeteekend uit den mond der Karau Jotafa, bewoners des Humboldts-Baai.” Tijdschrift van het Bataviaasch Genootschap 45: 59–89.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Collins, James T. 1980. Ambonese Malay and Creolization Theory. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and Kementarian Pelajaran Malaysia.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Danckaerts, Sebastian, and Casper Wiltens. 1623. Vocabularium ofte Woordenboeck, nae ordre van den Alphabeth in ’t Duytsch en Maleys. ’s Gravenhage: Ordinaris Drukkers vande Hog.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Doble, Marion. 1960. Kapauku-Malayan-Dutch-English dictionary. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Donohue, Mark. 2003. “Papuan Malay.” Unpublished manuscript, Singapore.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Douglas, Bronwen. 2024. “Very Beautiful Land’: Malay Knowledge, Spanish Voyages, and Indigenous Presence in Iberian Mapping of New Guinea.” The Journal of Pacific History 59: 1–45. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gil, David. 2022. “Number in Indonesian.” In Number in the World’s Languages, ed. by Paolo Acquaviva, and Michael Daniel, 457–503. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2024. “Recent Contact Features in Northwest Papuan Malay.” In Language Contact Between Malay and Indigenous Languages, ed. by Hiroki Nomoto, and Asako Shiohara, 53–116. Tokyo: NUSA.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van der Goes, H. D. A. 1862. Nieuw Guinea, ethnographisch en natuurkundig onderzocht en beschreven in 1858. Amsterdam: Frederik Muller.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Hasselt, Frans J. F. 1926. In het land van de Papoea’s. Utrecht: Kemink and Zoon.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Himmelmann, Nikolaus P., and Sonja Riesberg. 2012–2016. “Papuan Malay.” In Collection CELD Papua. Nijmegen: The Language Archive. [URL]
Jones, Linda K., Yohannes Paai, and Zeth Paai. 1989. Mo mona nanentabo ranugan — Perbendaharaan kata Bahasa Yawa — Yawa Vocabulary. Cenderawasih University and Summer Institute of Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kamholz, David. 2013. “Toolbox lexicon of Moor.” [URL]
Kluge, Angela. 2014. A Grammar of Papuan Malay. PhD thesis, Leiden University.
. 2017. A Grammar of Papuan Malay. Berlin: Language Science Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paauw, Scott H. 2009. The Malay Contact Varieties of Eastern Indonesia: A Typological Comparison. PhD thesis, State University of New York.
Robidé van der Aa, Pieter J. B. C. 1879. Reizen naar Nederlandsch Nieuw-Guinea ondernomen op last der regeering van Nederlandsch-Indië in de jaren 1871, 1872, 1875-1876 door de heeren P. van der Crab en J. E. Teysmann, J. G. Coorengel en A. J. Langeveldt van Hemert en P. Swaan met geschied- en aardrijkskundige toelichtingen. ’s Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roosman, Raden S. 1982. “Pidgin Malay as Spoken in Irian Jaya.” The Indonesian Quarterly X (2): 95–104.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rowley, Charles D. 1972. The New Guinea Villager: A Retrospect from 1964. Melbourne: F. W. Cheshire.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Saragih, Chrisma Fernando. 2012. The Practical Use of Person Reference in Papuan Malay. Master’s thesis, Radboud University.
Schapper, Antoinette. To appear. “Lexical Typology, with Special Reference to Colexification.” In The Oxford Guide to Papuan languages, ed. by Nick Evans, and Sebastian Fedden. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schapper, Antoinette, and Maria Zielenbach. 2025a. “Dutch Loanwords in Ternate and Their Circulation in the Moluccas.” In Dutch and Contact Linguistics, ed. by Christopher Joby, and Nicoline van der Sijs, 392–426. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2025b. “Reframing Pre-modern Language Contact Through Trade in Eastern Indonesia: Javanese Linguistic Influence in the Moluccas.” Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistic Society 18 (2): 1–23.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schapper, Antoinette, and Anne van Schie. To appear. “Lingua Francas of the SHWNG Region: Untangling the Historical Dynamics of Biak and Wamesa Loanwords.” In New Perspectives on the History of SHWNG Languages, ed. by Laura Arnold, and Antoinette Schapper.
Seiler, Walter. 1985. “The Malay Language of New Guinea.” In Papers in Pidgin and Creole Linguistics, ed. by Stephen A. Wurm, 143–153. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Usup, Hunggu Tadjuddin. 1986. Rekonstruksi proto-bahasa Gorontalo-Mongondow. PhD thesis, Universitas Indonesia.
van Velzen, Paul. 1995. “Some Notes on the Variety of Malay Used in Serui and Vicinity.” In Tales From a Concave World: Liber amicorum Bert Voorhoeve, ed. by Connie Baak, Mary Bakker, and Dick van der Meij, 311–343. Leiden: Department of Languages and Cultures of Southeast Asia and Oceania, Leiden University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wichmann, Arthur. 1917. Bericht über eine im Jahre 1903 ausgeführte Reise nach Neu-Guinea [Nova Guinea: Résultats des expéditions scientifiques à la Nouvelle Guinée en 1903 sous les auspices de Arthur Wichmann, Vol. 4]. Leiden: E. J. Brill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue