The Melanau–Kajang languages or Central Sarawak languages are a group of languages spoken in

Kalimantan Kalimantan (; ) is the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo. It constitutes 73% of the island's area, and consists of the provinces of Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan. The non-Ind ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

and

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

by the Kenyah,

Melanau Melanau (Malaysian language, Malay: ''Orang Melanau'', Melanau language, Melanau: ''Tenawan Melanau'') or ''A-Likou'' (meaning River people in Mukah dialect) is an ethnic group indigenous to Sarawak, Malaysia, and also present in West Kaliman ...

and related peoples.

Classification

Smith (2017)

Smith (2017)Smith, Alexander. 2017. ''The Languages of Borneo: A Comprehensive Classification''. PhD Dissertation: University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. uses the term ''Central Sarawak'', and puts it as an independent branch within the Greater North Borneo subgroup. He classifies the languages as follows. *

(Dalat, Sarikei, Mukah, Balingian, Matu, Sibu, Kanowit) *Kajang (

Kejaman The Kejaman people, also known as Kajaman, are an indigenous ethnic group classified under the Orang Ulu of Sarawak, Malaysia. They are part of the Kajang ethnolinguistic cluster, which also includes the Punan, Sekapan, Lahanan and Sihan sub-grou ...

, Sekapan, Lahanan) *Punan–Müller-Schwaner **

Punan Punan Bah or Punan is an ethnic group found in Sarawak, Malaysia and Kalimantan, Indonesia. The Punan Bah people are distinct and unrelated to the semi-nomadic Penan people. Their name stems from two rivers along the banks of which they have b ...

***Punan Bah, Punan Tubu, Sajau ***Punan Lisum, Punan Aput, Beketan, Ukit, Buket **Müller-Schwaner *** Hovongan *** Kereho, Aoheng, Seputan

Austroasiatic influence

Kaufman (2018) notes that many Proto-Central Sarawak words (Smith 2017) are of likely

Austroasiatic The Austroasiatic languages ( ) are a large language family spoken throughout Mainland Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia. These languages are natively spoken by the majority of the population in Vietnam and Cambodia, and by minority popu ...

origin, including the following (''Note'': The Austroasiatic branch reconstructions are from

Paul Sidwell Paul James Sidwell is an Australian linguist based in Canberra, Australia, who has held research and lecturing positions at the Australian National University. Sidwell, who is also an expert and consultant in forensic linguistics, is most nota ...

's reconstructions; Proto-Pearic is from Headley (1985)Headley, Robert K. 1985.
Proto-Pearic and the classification of Pearic
" In Suriya Ratanakult et al. (eds.), ''Southeast Asian Linguistic Studies Presented to Andre-G. Haudricourt''. Institute of Language and Culture for Rural Development, Mahidol University. pp. 428-478.).Kaufman, Daniel. 2018. ''Between mainland and island Southeast Asia: Evidence for a Mon-Khmer presence in Borneo''. Ronald and Janette Gatty Lecture Series. Kahin Center for Advanced Research on Southeast Asia, Cornell University.
handout

slides
* *siaw ‘chicken’ (cf. Proto-Khasic *sʔiar; Proto-Khmuic *(s)ʔiər) * *tilaŋ ‘ tiger leech’ (cf. Proto-Katuic *ɟləəŋ) * *(ə)liŋ ‘saliva’ Proto-Kajang words of likely Austroasiatic origin: * *diə̯k ‘chicken’ (cf. Proto-Pearic *hlɛːk) * *(u)bəl ‘mute’ (cf. Proto-Bahnaric *kmlɔː) Proto-Müller-Schwaner words of likely Austroasiatic origin: * *ənap ‘fish scale’

References

*Rensch, Calvin R. 2012
''Melanau and the Languages of Central Sarawak''
SIL Electronic Survey Report. SIL International. Central Sarawak languages {{austronesian-lang-stub