# Introduction ndonesia has so many tribes and languages. Recent research shows that a project of language mapping has already been done by National Language Bureau 2008 and has already identified 442 languages. Up till year 2011, it is noted that there has been significant increase in number of about 72 more languages; therefore the total number is 514 languages (Dendy et al., 2008). This number is still for sure being increased because many areas have not been visited yet to detect the number of languages owned by people living on those lands all over Indonesia archipelago. In the multicultural country like Indonesia, absolutely a language is absolutely needed. National Language "Bahasa Indonesia" is, indeed, a very strong indicator of a unifying language. We could imagine how the people of about 300 million converse each other if there is no language at all. Every ethnic tribe has its own local languages that influence his way of speaking Bahasa Indonesia. Papua (see the map) with more than 250 languages and cultures may not be impossible to use standard Indonesian soundly due to the variety of linguistic system. A Papuan who is originally from Serui Island (Northen part of Papua) talks to a Javanese, they both could speak fluently in Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian) but with different styles of rhythm and pronunciation due to mother tongue influences. The Javanese certainly speak probably standard Indonesian, while Papuans use similar language but it may be different in pronouncing the dialect due to his/her mother tongue interferences. Even between inter-ethics within Papua itself, they could not share similar accents of Malay Papua because of facing different linguistic systems. Moreover, all speakers of English are able to communicate each other and to some extent understand each other; nevertheless not two people articulate exactly identical. There are some differences to be considered such as age, sex, state of health, size, personality, emotional state, linguistic system, culture etc. So as to each speaks somewhat in a different way from all others is demonstrated by our capacity to be aware of acquaintances by hearing them talking. Thus, beyond the individual differences, the language of a group of people may show regular variations from that used by other groups of speakers of that language. # II. # Papua and Papua Malay; A Brief History Prior to its liberty in 1963, Papua (Western New Guinea), in fact, has already had cultural interaction with the other communities all the way through Indonesia for centuries. Samaun (1994) states that King of Shrivijaya (Sriwijaya), in the eight century, proposed a souvenir of a cockatoo and a slave name "seng-ki" to the Chinese King. In Chinese conception, this term probably means black-skinned and wooly-haired. He describes further that, the Kingdom of Kertagama shows there is a historical manuscript in it which states that Seram island, a group of islanders of North Ambon in Moluccas, and Onim, a group of dwellers of Kepala Burung (bird head of Papua used to be called Irian Jaya) were under the control of the Kingdom of Majapahit. Thus, astoundingly, it had been the fact that those wooly -haired persons were also decorated on the Borobudur temple in central Java. This evidence might also be the fact that when the temple was constructed upright in the eight century, people who did the construction and those who stayed around the temple had already acquainted with African Negroes. Nevertheless, based on the relationship between Sriwijaya and Majapahit on their political control, in relation to the political status of Irian Jaya between those two kingdoms, it is quite reasonably to assume that the carvings are the sign of the people of Irianese (Kuncaraninggrat, 1963). There have been other indications as evidence on the inter-cultural acquainted within groups of people in some parts which could be as a proof that the Malaybased culture is still deeply tied there. As the history went on in the past, it indicated that on the North Coast, very much along the coastal areas of some islands along the Pacific and Indian oceans, some symbols can be seen through canoes with outriggers showing some paintings written in Bahasa Melayu (the Malay Language). Bahasa Melayu at that time was used as a lingua franca among traders, that's the time in which this language was introduced to Irian Jaya (the former name of Papua). It can be said that at least there is strong proof that "Malay Ambon or Malay Ternate" has been exercised in Irian Jaya for quite long probably about a century. Thus, it is shown through those facts as more clues in which the Sultan Ternate and Tidore at that time have had a gigantic power over most parts of the region of Irian Jaya particularly the northern part. From the above notes, it may be assumed that the Malay Ternate was applied Malay language as an interactive language among Irianese and authorities as there had been no other language to unify people with hundreds of linguistic systems (Cappel, 1962;1969;Lembaga Bahasa Nasional, 1972;Stockhof, 1975;Voorhoeve, 1975). As times went by, finally, the Dutch administration bought West New Guinea from the Sultan of Ternate in 1905, and then in 1911, it handed over the region under the control of the residential authority of Ambon. There had no indication or may be there had been already some studies on the similarities between the Bahasa Indonesia conversed in Irian Jaya or Papua and other dialects in and around Ternate islands and Ambon in Mollucas. It would be interesting to explore deeply for the sake of obtaining more strong evidence on the historical angles as the linguistic references. # III. Malay Papua; A Dialect Language of a group of people may show regular variations from that used by other groups of speakers of that language. When English of speakers in different geographical regions and from different social groups show systematic differences, the groups are said to speak different dialects of the same language. This dialect of a single language may thus be defined as mutually intelligible forms of language that differ in systematic ways from each other. It is not easy to decide whether the systematic differences between two speech communities reflect two dialects or two different languages. A rule of-thumb definition can be used: "When dialects become mutually unintelligible-when the speakers of one dialect group can no longer understand the speakers of another dialect group-these' dialects' become different languages." However to define mutually intelligible" is itself a difficult task. Danish speaking Danish and Norwegian speaking Norwegian and Swedes speaking Swedish can converse with each other; yet Danish and Norwegian and Swedish are considered separate languages because they are spoken in separate countries and because there are regular differences in their grammars. Similarly, Hinddi and Urdu are mutually intelligible "languages" spoken in Pakistan and India, although the differences between them are not much greater than between the English spoken in America and Australia. On the other hand, the various languages spoken in China, such as Mandarin and Cantonese, although mutually unintelligible, have been referred to as dialects of Chinese because they are spoken within a single country and have a common written system. Malay Papua is as well a dialect of Malay Indonesian because it is spoken in a country with similar written system only has some distinctive characteristics in phonology, morphology, etc. Thus, whatever the boundaries are we could, however, stick to the rule-ofthumb as definition and refer to dialects of one language as mutually intelligible version of the same basic grammar with systematic differences between them. # IV. # Standard Indonesian or Malay Indonesian Versus Malay Papua The standard Indonesian or Malay Indonesian is officially declared in UUD 45. The national language is Bahasa Indonesia or Indonesian Language or Indonesian. This language has already gained a clear status as a national language or a state language (Halim, 1975 cited in Samaun 1994), or official, technical, public and formal language (Kridalaksana, 1975 cited in Samaun 1994). Together with the National Language, the National Flag and National Anthem are as well stated in the similar National Regulation No 24/2009 about National Flag, National Language and National Anthem. The role of Malay Papua (PM) is very different from Malay of Javanese or other parts of Indonesia. Majority of people in Papua living in cities, coastal areas and in country sides, speak this dialect well. Linguistic history in Papua has noted that there are people living on the highlands and coastal areas with their own linguistic systems. Those from NAN (Non Austronesian) from the Highland of Papua converse their MP different from Austronesian (AN). Interestingly, every tribe has its own characteristics conversing in Malay Papua. For example, somebody originally from Biak Island when he/she speaks MP, we as other Papuans could guest from his/her accent or dialect that he/she is originally from Biak (an island in the Northen part of Papua). The form of MP can be interpreted differently by other people outside Papua who hear Papuans talking, for example those from Java. They get confuse when they come across sentences such as "sapi main bold'" and "sapu tangan sakit'" they think those sentences sound funny. Firstly, "sapi main bola" (a cow goes to play ball), how can a cow do this, it is impossible, thus in MP means "sa" is saya, "pi" is pergi, "main" is play and "bola" is ball so in MI means "saya pergi bermain bola" (I go to play ball). Secondly, "sapu tangan sakit" (handkerchief is sick), it is impossible of course to make it happen as handkerchief is not a leaving thing. Thus, in MP means "saya punya tangan sakit" (my hand is sick). If we look at MI means "tangan saya sakit". These are the differences which are there in Papua and in fact, those who come from outside Papua, to be part of the culture, should learn to adopt and cope with this linguistic situation. Thus, more descriptions of MP and MI linguistic features (Supardi, 2011) are described as follows. V. Some Distinctive Linguistic Features of Malay Papua (MP)r a) Phonemic Linguistic System of MP i. The total number of vocal in Malay Papua is 5 as normal standard of any language. Those vocals may be put in all positions, as shown below: Vowel changes that take place in the initial position are presented below. The standard Indonesian pronunciation is listed on the left. The change is shown by --> iv. Vowel deletion that can be identified is limited to [ ] in [ cv-] [ t 3 rus --> trus ] [ b 3 lum --> blon ] [ s 3 p 3 rempat --> sprampa ] [ s 3 puluh --> spolo ] v. The consonant which is deleted here is the /h/ sound in [ cv-]. It seems that speakers find it rather difficult to produce that fricative sound in this particular position. [ # hampir --> ampir ] [ hanut --> ano ] [ hutan --> utan ] [ habis --> abis ] [ hancur --> ancor ] vi. From the data we can identify two types. # VI. Morphemic Linguistic System of MP MP verb is very different from the other Malay verbs, especially the Malay language in the western region of Indonesia. The study (Supardi, 2011) shows that the verb of MP is not built on free morphemes such as affixes and in Indonesian and Malay descent in the western region, but only built on the free morpheme. The data in this study were collected by tapping directly and quoted from the three publications in Papua. The approach used in this study is descriptive structural [ i --> o ] [ sial --> soe ] (2) [ ? --> I ] [ p ?cah --> picah] (3) [ ? --> e ] [ l ?bih --> lebe ] [ d ?? an --> de?an ] [? mas --> emas ] [ d? kat --> dekat ] [ b? si --> besi ] (4) [ ? --> o ] [ s ? nduk --> sondo ] [ k ? bun --> kobon ] [ p ? rut --> poro ] [ p ? nuh --> pono ] [ k ? ntut --> konto ] (5) [ ? --> a ] [ k ? cil --> kacupi? ] [ p ? rahu --> parau ] [ s ? b ? las --> sabala ] [ s ? b ? ntar --> sabantar ] [ s ? dap --> sadap ] (6) [ a --> e ] [ gait --> gepe ] (7) [ u --> o ] [ duit --> doi ] [ tuli --> toher ] [ putih --> pte ] [ kuni --> konen ] (8) [ o --> a ] [ go?go? --> ganging ] (9) [ au --> o] [ mau --> mo ] [ saudara --> sodarah ] [ kau --> ko ] (1) [ -? r ---> -i-] [ p ? rgi --> pigi --> pi ] (2) [ -? r---> -a-] [ t ? rpukul --> tapukul ] [ t ? rsentuh --> tasonto ] [ t ? rbelah --> tabala ] [ t ? rkikis --> takikis --> takiki ] [ t ? rgores --> tagores --> tagore ](1) approach. There is also the method used is the distributional method. From the analysis result is obtained conclusion. MP's verb form of 1) base morpheme, 2) verbs inflectionsi: (1) prefixation is not productive, (2) lexical reduplication. MP Verb, from morphological aspect, can be as base morpheme. This verb is 1) combination of prefix ma(N-), bataatau ke-, 2) in term of reduplication form; and 3) syntactically bound with aspects: : kasih, dapat, ada, bisa, baku. Other characteristic is a form which is combined with tra (tidak). Besides the characteristic above (Tajuddin, 2005: 68-69) was adding of verb cracteristic as follow: has should a fungtion as a predicate, chronological meaning, and proses. # a) Verb-Based Malay verb is verb-based. Why could it be like that? The question is due to unproductive of the affixation (Supardi, 2011). In Indonesian, this verb could be as formal and informal which is unlimited, on the contrary if we look at MP, there are many of these verbs and found in daily conversation. As mentioned above, back-ward formation of verb is result of the integration of four prefixes is also limited. Therefore, data from this description is also very limited. i. Verb could be blended down by adding prefix ma(N-) in verb base. It is very hard to find this prefix in daily conversation in MP. In Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia), this nasalized prefix could be introduced by applying me (n-). Basically, the notion of back-ward formation of verb of prefix ma (N-) is similar to prefix meng- (Alwi, 1998:119) in Indonesian (BI). The following examples are presented below: (2) Transitif (Verb) intip -> mangintip cari -> mancari(3) Nontransitif (Verb) # orok -> mangoron luncur -> maluncu jerit -> manjeri There has been deep research to MP verb with prefix which is accepted. Therefore, this feature of prefix is unproductive as prefix me(N-) in Indonesia (BI). Below are the examples of unaccepted forms: (4) dorong -> *mandorong bisu -> *mambisu lucu -> *malucu ii. MP Verb could be formed by adding prefix bain verb base. Form of prefix becovers two types : the first type could be put in line with prefix bein Indonesian (see example...) (5) diri -> badiri 'berdiri' ribut -> baribut 'beribut ' The second type cannot be translated into BI with prefix ber-, but with prefix me(N-). (6) basuh -> babasu 'membasuh' cukur -> bacukur 'mencukur' dorong-> badoron 'mendorong' Some deep results shows that not all forms with prefixes are accepted. Therefore, this feature of prefix is unproductive such as prefix bain BI. iii. Verb could be formed with prefix ta-. It could be translated in Indonesian with ter-. In daily life, these forms are easily found. The examples are presented below: (8) kikis -> takikis/takiki 'terkikis' cukur -> tacukur/tacuku 'tercukur' . talem -> talem 'terkunci' Similar to prefix ma (N-) and ba-, prefix tais unproductive or unaccepted, as seen below: Reduplication of Lexical Verb a) Intransitif active 'ber-... .' ![-ward formation of VerbBack-ward formation of verb with affix in this case is very limited. Prefixes are ma(N-), ba-, tadan ke-. Result of the form with prefix is considered insufficient.](image-2.png "") ![in Javanese influence which is prefix ke-. The essence underlying this becomes active transitive such as in the form of ketawa, ketemu, yet it could become passive transitive like the form of ketabrak. In daily life these prefixes are limited. There have been no new forms found. Below are the examples of those prefixes:](image-3.png "") 2 Base Word (BI) MPBI(7)lari->*balari'berlari'embun ->*baembun'berembun'teman ->*bateman'berteman' The above descriptions are some samples of the linguistic features, of MP and MI which are obtained by the writer (a Javanese) as a linguist who has an interest in MP. ## VIII. ## Conclusion Malay Papua is a dialect which is unofficially exercised as unifying dialect among hundreds of ethnics in Papua (Western part of New Guinea Island which is a part of Indonesia). Whoever considered his/her as Papuan cannot stay away from this dialect as a part of Papuan's identity (inter-ethnic community's dialect), just as the other parts of Indonesia such as those from Moluccas, North Celebes, West and East Nusa Tenggara, Sumatera, Java, Borneo (Kalimantan), etc. Yet, data shows that, historically, Malay Papua's dialect tends to be directed towards Moluccas and North Celebes (Sulawesi). The distinctive features of MP on its phonemic and morphemic system are so impressed other people of other tribes outside Papua. When a Papuan goes to visit Jakarta and he/she uses MP to converse, it would probably become a joking if a Javanese listens to a Papuan talking in MP. Sometimes, there would be a kind of a miscommunication among speakers of other cultures. Thus, the important point is to demonstrate this uniqueness of this dialect which is based on the description of its linguistic system, and it would be a good promotion to other tribes throughout the country or other international eyes to be aware of a dialect applied by a extraordinary ethnic group somewhere in this planet. 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