Melanau–Kajang languages
Subgroup of the Austronesian language family
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Melanau–Kajang languages, or Central Sarawak languages, are a group of languages spoken in Kalimantan, Indonesia and Sarawak, Malaysia by the Kenyah, Melanau and related peoples.
- Kajang (Kayang)
- Melanau
- Punan–Müller-Schwaner
| Melanau–Kajang | |
|---|---|
| Central Sarawak | |
| Geographic distribution | Indonesia and Malaysia (Borneo) |
| Linguistic classification | Austronesian
|
| Subdivisions |
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| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | sara1342 |
Classification
Smith (2017)
Smith (2017)[1] uses the term Central Sarawak, and puts it as an independent branch within the Greater North Borneo subgroup. He classifies the languages as follows.
Austroasiatic influence
Kaufman (2018) notes that many Proto-Central Sarawak words[1] are of likely Austroasiatic origin, including the following (Note: The Austroasiatic branch reconstructions are from Paul Sidwell's reconstructions; Proto-Pearic is from Headley (1985)[2]).[3]
- *siaw ‘chicken’ (cf. Proto-Khasic *sʔiar; Proto-Khmuic *(s)ʔiər)
- *tilaŋ ‘tiger leech’ (cf. Proto-Katuic *ɟləəŋ)
- *(ə)liŋ ‘saliva’
Proto-Kajang words of likely Austroasiatic origin:
- *diə̯k ‘chicken’ (cf. Proto-Pearic *hlɛːk)
- *(u)bəl ‘mute’ (cf. Proto-Bahnaric *kmlɔː)
Proto-Müller-Schwaner words of likely Austroasiatic origin:
- *ənap ‘fish scale’
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