The Tutong language, also known as ''Basa Tutong'', is a language spoken by approximately 17,000 people in

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

. It is the main language of the Tutong people, the majority ethnic group in the

Tutong District Tutong District (; Jawi script, Jawi: دائيره توتوڠ) or simply known as Tutong ('), is the third largest and populated districts of Brunei, district in Brunei. It has an area of and the population of 47,210 as of 2021. The district i ...

of Brunei.

Classification

Tutong is an

Austronesian language The Austronesian languages ( ) are a language family widely spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, parts of Mainland Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan (by Taiwanese indigenous peoples). They are spoken b ...

and belongs to the Rejang–Baram group of languages spoken in Brunei as well as

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, 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. Tutong is related to the Belait language with roughly 54% of basic vocabulary being cognate.

Language use

Today, many speakers of Tutong are shifting away from the traditional language and code-mix or code-shift with Brunei Malay, Standard Malay and English. The language has been given a vitality rating of 2.5 based on a scale of 0–6 that uses the measures of the rate of transmission to future generations, the level of official support, and the geographical concentration of speakers. This means it is considered

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, inv ...

. Nonetheless, there is interest in revitalising the language. Since 2012, a module has been taught in Tutong at

Universiti Brunei Darussalam The Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD or University of Brunei Darussalam) is a public national university, national research university situated in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei, was founded in 1985 and is the oldest institution i ...

. Similarly, the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (Brunei's language agency) published a Tutong–Malay, Malay–Tutong dictionary in 1991 and a word list of several Brunei languages in 2011.

Phonology

Vowels

* Vowels /i, ɛ, a, u/ are heard as , ə, ʌ, oin lax positions. * /ɛ, a/ can also be freely heard as �, ʌin syllable-initial positions.

Consonants

* Sounds /p, k, m/ may also be geminated as ː, kː, mː * Other sounds /z, ʃ, x, h/ may occur from loanwords.

References

Resources

* * {{Languages of Brunei Languages of Brunei Berawan–Lower Baram languages