Kayan (Kajan, Kayan proper) is a
dialect cluster
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated vari ...
spoken by the
Kayan people of
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the List of islands by area, 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 Isl ...
. 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 a ...
, 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, Mahsa ...
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