Coastal Kadazan, also known as , is a dialect of the Kadazan Dusun language as well as a minority language primarily spoken in

Sabah Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. It is the primary dialect spoken by the Kadazan people in the west coast of Sabah especially in the districts of Penampang, Papar and Membakut (sub-district of Beaufort).

Characteristics

The use of Coastal Kadazan has been declining due to the use of Malay by the Malaysian federal government and by the use of English by

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

, which was done through the method of

language shift Language shift, also known as language transfer or language replacement or language assimilation, is the process whereby a speech community shifts to a different language, usually over an extended period of time. Often, languages that are percei ...

enforced by the work of both the colonial and federal governments. The state of Sabah has introduced policies to prevent this decline, which is also happening to other native Sabahan languages. This included the policy of using Kadazan and other indigenous languages in public schools. Efforts have also been done to allow the language to become official in the state. Coastal Kadazan has adopted many loanwords, particularly from other northern Borneo indigenous languages and also Malay. Kadazan extensively employs the voiced alveolar sibilant fricative in their native lexicons, a feature found in only a few Austronesian languages. The Tsou and Paiwan languages also have these particular elements, spoken by the

Taiwanese aborigines Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan (Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese Han Taiwanese, Taiwanese Han (), Taiwane ...

. Another language is Malagasy spoken in the island of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

thousands of miles away off the coast of Africa. Coastal Kadazan is highly mutually intelligible with

Central Dusun Central Dusun, also known as Bunduliwan (Dusun: ), is one of the more widespread languages spoken by the Dusun (including Kadazan) peoples of Sabah, Malaysia. Kadazandusun language standardisation What is termed as ''Central Dusun'' (or s ...

and is considered by many to be the same language. Under the efforts of the

Kadazandusun Cultural Association Sabah Kadazan-Dusun (also written as Kadazandusun or Mamasok Kadazan-Dusun) also less-known as "Mamasok Sabah" are two indigenous peoples of Sabah, Malaysia—the ethnic groups Kadazan and Dusun. The Kadazandusun is the largest native group of Bu ...

, in 1995, the central Bundu-Liwan dialect (Central Dusun) was selected to serve as the basis for a standardised "Kadazandusun" language. This dialect was selected as it was deemed to be the most mutually intelligible when conversing with other "Dusun" or "Kadazan" dialects.

Phonology

Miller (1993) lists the following phonemes: ranges from weakly rounded to unrounded. Four borrowed consonants from Malay and English include .

Sample prayers

Our Father

:Translation: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Hail Mary

:Translation: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Austronesian languages comparison table

Below is a table of Kadazan and other Austronesian languages comparing thirteen words.

References

External links

KadazanHomeland
{{Austronesian languages Sabahan languages Languages of Malaysia Languages of Sabah Verb–subject–object languages