The Jahaic or Northern Aslian languages (also called Jehaic or Semang) are a group of
Aslian languages
The Aslian languages () are the southernmost branch of Austroasiatic languages spoken on the Malay Peninsula. They are the languages of many of the ''Orang Asli'', the aboriginal inhabitants of the peninsula. The total number of native speakers o ...
spoken by about 5,000 people in inland areas of
Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia, historically known as Malaya and also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, is the western part of Malaysia that comprises the southern part of the Malay Peninsula on Mainland Southeast Asia and the list of isla ...
, with a few pockets in southern
Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
. 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
Ten'edn can be split into two divisions:
*
Cheq Wong
*Northern Aslian proper
**Eastern
***
Batek (Batek Deq and Batek Nong),
Mintil (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 coast opposite
Penang
Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...
in the early 19th century. Another extinct language is Ple-Temer, which was previously spoken near
Gerik in northern
Perak
Perak (; Perak Malay: ''Peghok'') is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kel ...
(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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