The Belait people are a

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

an ethnic group native to

Belait District Belait District (; Jawi: دأيره بلأيت), or simply Belait (), is the largest as well as the westernmost district in Brunei. It has an area of and the population of 69,062 as of 2016. The administrative town is Kuala Belait, located at ...

. They traditionally speak the

Belait language Belait, or Lemeting, is a Malayo-Polynesian language of Brunei and neighbouring Malaysia. It is spoken by the Belait people who mainly reside in the Bruneian Belait District. There were estimated to be 700 speakers in 1995. Classification Bela ...

. They are predominantly

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

. They are officially one of the seven ethnic groups which make up the Bruneian

Malay race The concept of a Malay race was originally proposed by the Germany, German physician Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752–1840), and classified as a brown (racial classification), brown race. ''Malay'' is a loose term used in the late 19th century ...

Origin

The Belait people originated from the merger between two ethnic groups, namely the (i.e. the 'native' Belait) and the Lemeting or Meting. The latter was originally native to Tinjar River, a tributary of the

Baram River The Baram River ( ms, Sungai Baram) is a river in Sarawak on the island of Borneo. The river originates in the Kelabit Highlands, a watershed demarcated by the Iran Mountains of East Kalimantan, which form a natural border with Sarawak. The riv ...

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

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 ...

; they later migrated to the area of, and eventually integrated with, the 'native' Belait.

Language

The

, the traditional language of the Belait people, is an Austronesian language within the sub-group

Malayo-Polynesian The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeast ...

. The language is considered "seriously"

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

; it is claimed that there are "almost no younger speakers".

Citations

References

* * * Ethnic groups in Brunei Society of Brunei {{Brunei-stub