Kayan (Kajan, Kayan proper) is a

dialect cluster A dialect is a variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standardized varieties as well as vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardized varieties, such as those used in developing countries or iso ...

spoken by the Kayan people of

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

. It is a cluster of closely related dialects with limited

mutual intelligibility In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intelli ...

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

Bahau Bahau is the principal town of Jempol District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Etymology 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 means "hors ...

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

Internal classification

Glottolog ''Glottolog'' is an open-access online bibliographic database of the world's languages. In addition to listing linguistic materials ( grammars, articles, dictionaries) describing individual languages, the database also contains the most up-to-d ...

v4.8 classifies the Kayan dialect cluster as follows:

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

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