Kayan (Kajan, Kayan proper) is a dialect cluster spoken by the Kayan people of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

. It is a cluster of closely related dialects with limited

mutual intelligibility In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...

, and is itself part of the Kayan-Murik group of Austronesian languages. Baram Kayan is a local trade language.

Bahau Bahau ( Jawi: بهااو, ) is the principal town of Jempol District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. The town's name is believed to have been derived from a Chinese phrase. Bahau's literal translation is "horse's mouth" while the nearby town, Mahsan ...

is part of the dialect cluster, but is not ethnically Kayan.

Phonology

The following is based on the Baram dialect:

Consonants

* can be heard as either a tap or a trill in free variation. * can be heard as when in free fluctuation with in word-medial position. * can be realized as more fronted when preceding high vocoids. * may also be heard as a palatalized stop in free fluctuation. * may also be heard as in free variation, and may also fluctuate to a stop sound .

Vowels

* Length ːis said to occur in free variation or in word-final position. * can be heard as in initial or medial positions, or in free variation with . * can also be heard as in word-medial position. * can be heard as before a medial or final or . * can be heard as when before a or , or in fluctuation with .

External links

{{au-lang-stub Languages of Malaysia Languages of Indonesia Kayan–Murik languages