CHAPTER I
ETYMOLOGY
§ 1. Malay is the tongue of the Malay Peninsula, which embraces the Straits Settlements of Singapore, Malacca, and Penang; the Federated Malay States, Perak, Selangor, Pahang, and Negri Sembilan: the states of Kedah, Kelantan, and Trengganu and Johore; and in the extreme north under Siamese protection Patani. It is also the tongue of the Riau Archipelago, of the East Coast of Sumatra, and of the West Coast of Borneo. It is as closely related to Menangkabau as Sundanese is akin to Javanese.
The language belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian or Oceanic or Austronesian family, as it has been termed variously, which covers an area from Formosa to New Zealand, from Madagascar to Easter Island, and includes the languages of the Philippines, the Malay Archipelago, Micronesia, Melanesia excluding Papua, and Polynesia. To the easternmost branch belong the languages of Samoa, Tahiti, and Tonga. To the western or Indonesian branch belong Malay; Malagasy; Tagalog Bisaya and Bontok in the Philippines; Batak and Menangkabau in Sumatra; Sundanese, Javanese, and Madurese Balinese; the Dayak dialects of Borneo; Macassar and Bugis in the Celebes, and many other less-known tongues.
This big Malayo-Polynesian family it has been attempted to connect with a family of Austro-Asiatic languages spread over the south-cast corner of Asia and embracing Munda of Central India; Khasi of Assam; Mon or Talaing and Khmer or Cambojan &c. of Indo-China; Nicobarese; and in
