The Northern Aslian languages (also called Jehaic or Semang) are a group of
Aslian languages spoken by about 5,000 people in inland areas of
Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...
, with a few pockets in southern
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
. The most distinctive language in the group is the outlier
Cheq Wong, which is spoken south of the Central Aslian language
Semai. The other languages apart from
Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
can be split into two divisions:
*
Cheq Wong
*Northern Aslian proper
**Eastern
***
Batek (Batek Deq and Batek Nong),
Mintil
Mintil (alternatively Batek Tanum, Tanɨm, or Mayah) is an Aslian language of Malaysia. It is considered to be a variety of the Batek language.
Background
In the late 1960s, Geoffrey Benjamin had come across speakers of Mintil among patients ...
(Batek Tanɨm)
***
Jahai (Jehai),
Minriq (Menriq)
***
Jedek
**Western
***
Kintaq
***
Kensiu (Maniq)
(unclassified)
Ten'edn (Mos, Maniq)
The name Maniq (Məniʔ, Maniʔ) can refer to either Kensiu or Tonga, both of which also go by the name of Mos.
Some Aslian languages are already extinct, such as
Wila' (also called Bila' or Lowland Semang), a language or various languages recorded having been spoken on the
Province Wellesley
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
coast opposite
Penang in the early 19th century. Another extinct language is Ple-Temer, which was previously spoken near
Gerik
Gerik ( Jawi: ڬريق; ; Tamil: கிரிக் ; alternate spelling: Grik) is a mukim and the district capital of Hulu Perak District, Perak, Malaysia. The town is also known as Rest Town owing to its strategic location next to East-West ...
in northern
Perak (Benjamin 2011).
References
External links
*Benjamin, Geoffrey. 2011. ''The current situation of the Aslian languages''. m.s.
*http://projekt.ht.lu.se/rwaai RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
*
http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-66F8-B@view Northern Aslian languages in RWAAI Digital Archive
Languages of Malaysia
Languages of Thailand
*
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