Melanau language

Not to be confused with Maranao language or Melanesian languages.

Melanau
Central Melanau
Native to	Malaysia, Brunei
Region	Sarawak and neighbouring Brunei
Ethnicity	Melanau people
Native speakers	(110,000 cited 2000)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian North Bornean Melanau–Kajang Melanau languages Melanau
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: mel – Central Melanau dro – Daro-Matu Melanau sdx – Sibu Melanau
Glottolog	cent2101  Central daro1239  Daro-Matu sibu1258  Sibu

Melanau is an Austronesian language spoken in the coastal area of the Rajang delta on northwest Borneo, Sarawak, Malaysia and Brunei. There are several dialects—Mukah-Oya, Balingian, Bruit, Dalat, Lawas, Igan, Sarikei, Segahan, Prehan, Segalang, and Siteng.

Phonology

Consonants

Melanau has the following consonants.

		Bilabial	Coronal	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasals		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosives and affricates	voiceless	p	t	tʃ	k		ʔ
	voiced	b	d	dʒ	ɡ
Fricatives			s				h, ɦ
Lateral			l
Trills			r			ʀ
Semivowels		w		j

Vowels

Melanau has the following vowels.

	front	central	back rounded
High	i		u
Mid	ɛ	ə	ɔ
Low		a

Sounds /i a u ɔ/ can have allophones of [ɪ æ~ʌ ʊ ɒ].

Orthography

Vowels and diphthongs

• a – [a]
• aa – [aː]
• e – [ɛ/ə]
• i – [i]
• o – [ɔ]
• u – [u]
• ai – [ai]
• au – [au]
• ei – [ei]
• ou – [ou]
• ui – [ui]

Consonants

• b – [b]
• c – [t͡ʃ]
• d – [d]
• g – [g]
• h – [h, ɦ]
• j – [d͡ʒ]
• k – [k]
• l – [l]
• m – [m]
• n – [n]
• ng – [ŋ]
• ny – [ɲ]
• p – [p]
• r – [r/ʀ]
• s – [s]
• t – [t]
• w – [w]
• y – [j]

References

• I.F.C.S. Clayre. 1970. "The Spelling of Melanau (nee Milano)," The Sarawak Museum Journal 18:330-352.
• Clayre, Iain F. C. S. 1972. A grammatical description of Melanau. University of Edinburgh.
• Rensch, Calvin R. 2012. Melanau and the Languages of Central Sarawak. SIL Electronic Survey Report. SIL International.

External links

• Kaipuleohone holds two open access collections that include Balingian language materials (RB1-002 and RB2-003-E) as well as notebook pages of stories