The Kayan–Murik languages are a group of

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spoken in

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by the Kayan, Murik, and Bahau peoples.

Languages

The Kayan–Murik languages include: *Kayan proper: Bahau, various languages called '' Kayan'' * Murik

Smith (2017, 2019)

Smith (2017, 2019) classifies the Kayanic languages as follows: *Kayanic **Kayan–Murik–Merap *** Kayan **** Baram **** Rejang-Busang **** Bahau **** Data Dian ***Murik–Merap **** Ngorek **** Pua’ **** Huang Bau **** Merap

Notable sound changes

Glottalisation of final vowels

In all Kayan–Murik languages, final vowels ''*-a'', ''*-i'', and ''*-u'' are closed with a glottal stop (similar to Banyumasan or Ngapak dialect of Javanese). This process resulted ''-aʔ'', ''-eʔ'', and ''-oʔ'' in most langauges, but two latter outcomes are instead ''-ayʔ'' and ''-awʔ'' in Merap. However, the Kayan–Murik languages have different treatments regarding syllables ending in ''*-ʔ'' (inherited from PMP ''*-q''). Data Dian Kayan (DDK) and Bahau lengthen PMP ''*-aq'' into ''-aːʔ'' (but ''-iʔ'' and ''-uʔ''), Busang simply retains the glottal stops without any lengthening, meanwhile, Long Naah Kayan (LNK) and Balui Liko Kayan (BLK) deleted ''*-q'' altogether.

Final voiced stops

Original final voiced stops have been altered to some extent in the Kayan–Murik languages. In LNK and DDK, ''*-b'' and ''*-d'' became nasalised into ''-m'' and ''-n'', respectively (similar to Karo Batak). Meanwhile, in BLK and Busang, both are lenited into ''-v'' and ''-r''. However, in Bahau, Ngorek, and Merap, the outcomes of final voiced stops are more variable, with ''*-b''

devoiced Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds (usually consonants). Speech sounds can be described as either voiceless (otherwise known as ''unvoiced'') or voiced. The term, however, is used to ref ...

into ''-p'', but ''*-d'' evolved into ''-l'' (Bahau), and then nasalised into ''-n'' (Ngorek and Merap).

Vowel breaking before velar consonants

In DDK, BLK, and additionally Uma Juman Kayan (UJK), vowels ''*a'' and ''*i'' were broken into ''eə'' and ''iə'', before velar consonnts ''*k'' or ''*ŋ'' (''*anak'' 'child' → ''aneək'').

Outcomes of ''z'' and ''s''

In Bahau, PMP ''*s'' was debuccalised to ''h'' in all positions (eventually merging with the outcome of PMP ''*ʀ''), while ''*z''

chain shift In historical linguistics, a chain shift is a set of sound changes in which the change in pronunciation of one speech sound (typically, a phoneme) is linked to, and presumably causes, a change in pronunciation of other sounds. The sounds invo ...

ed to ''s''. In other languages, ''*s'' was only debuccalised in initial, or final position; therefore, it is still retained in the medial position (merging with medial ''*-z-''). Meanwhile, initial ''*z-'' became ''j-'' instead in these languages. However, in BLK and Busang, ''*-s'' was further deleted in the final position, but this rule did not apply for ''*-ʀ'', nor the sequence ''*əs'' in Busang. Because of this, Alexander D. Smith speculates that the Proto-Kayanic outcome for PMP ''*z'' is ''*c'', while ''*s'' remains unchanged.

Sequences of nasals and voiced consonants

In most Kayan–Murik languages, such sequences (''*mb'', ''*nd'', ''*nj'', ''*ŋg'') have evolved into ''*b'', ''*d'', ''*j'', ''*g'', by deleting the homorganic nasals. This change followed the lenition of medial ''*-b-'' and ''*-d-'' into ''-v-'' (''-f-'' in DDK and Bahau) and ''-r-'' in Kayan languages. However, in Murik and Merap, they merged with ''*mp'', ''*nt'', ''*nc'', ''*ŋk'', with devoiced plosives.

References

Bibliography

External links

Kaipuleohone Kaipuleohone is a digital ethnographic archive that houses audio and visual files, photographs, as well as hundreds of textual material such as notes, dictionaries, and transcriptions relating to small and endangered languages. The archive is stored ...

archived materials of Kayan from the

Robert Blust Robert A. Blust (; zh, c=白樂思, p=Bái Lèsī; May 9, 1940 – January 5, 2022) was an American linguist who worked in several areas, including historical linguistics, lexicography and ethnology. He was Professor of Linguistics at the Uni ...

collection ( RB2-003-A, RB2-003-C). {{DEFAULTSORT:Kayan-Murik languages Greater North Borneo languages