Melanau language explained

Melanau is an Austronesian language spoken in the coastal area of the Rajang delta on northwest Borneo, Sarawak, Malaysia and Brunei. There are several dialects—Mukah-Oya, Balingian, Bruit, Dalat, Lawas, Igan, Sarikei, Segahan, Prehan, Segalang, and Siteng.^[1]

Phonology

Consonants

Melanau has the following consonants.^[2]

							Glottal
Nasals		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Plosives and affricates	voiceless	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
	voiced	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Fricatives			pronounced as /link/				pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/
Lateral			pronounced as /link/
Trills			pronounced as /link/			pronounced as /link/
Semivowels		pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/

Vowels

Melanau has the following vowels.^[2]

	front	central	back rounded
High	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Mid	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Low		pronounced as /link/

Sounds pronounced as //i a u ɔ// can have allophones of [{{IPA link|ɪ}} {{IPA link|æ}}~{{IPA link|ʌ}} {{IPA link|ʊ}} {{IPA link|ɒ}}].^[3]

Orthography

Vowels and diphthongs

• a – pronounced as /[a]/
• aa – pronounced as /[aː]/
• e – pronounced as /[ɛ/ə]/
• i – pronounced as /[i]/
• o – pronounced as /[ɔ]/
• u – pronounced as /[u]/
• ai – pronounced as /[ai]/
• au – pronounced as /[au]/
• ei – pronounced as /[ei]/
• ou – pronounced as /[ou]/
• ui – pronounced as /[ui]/

Consonants

• b – pronounced as /[b]/
• c – pronounced as /[t͡ʃ]/
• d – pronounced as /[d]/
• g – pronounced as /[g]/
• h – pronounced as /[h, ɦ]/
• j – pronounced as /[d͡ʒ]/
• k – pronounced as /[k]/
• l – pronounced as /[l]/
• m – pronounced as /[m]/
• n – pronounced as /[n]/
• ng – pronounced as /[ŋ]/
• ny – pronounced as /[ɲ]/
• p – pronounced as /[p]/
• r – pronounced as /[r/ʀ]/
• s – pronounced as /[s]/
• t – pronounced as /[t]/
• w – pronounced as /[w]/
• y – pronounced as /[j]/^[4]

References

• I.F.C.S. Clayre. 1970. "The Spelling of Melanau (nee Milano)," The Sarawak Museum Journal 18:330-352.
• Clayre, Iain F. C. S. 1972. A grammatical description of Melanau. University of Edinburgh.
• Rensch, Calvin R. 2012. Melanau and the Languages of Central Sarawak. SIL Electronic Survey Report. SIL International.

External links

• Kaipuleohone holds two open access collections that include Balingian language materials (RB1-002 and RB2-003-E) as well as notebook pages of stories

Notes and References

1. Raymond G. Gordon Jr., ed. 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 15th edition. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
2. Clayre 1970.
3. Clayre 1972.
4. Web site: Melanau language . Omniglot . 27 August 2021.