Maanyan or Maʼanyan (also Maanjan or Maanyak Dayak) is an Austronesian language belonging to the East Barito languages. It is spoken by about 150,000 Ma'anyan people (one of the Dayak peoples) living in the province of Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is most closely related to the Malagasy language spoken in Madagascar, although these languages are not mutually intelligible due to the geographical separation.

Quick Facts Pronunciation, Native to ...
Ma'anyan
Pronunciation[maʔaɲan]
Native toIndonesia
RegionKalimantan
Native speakers
150,000 (2003)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3mhy
Glottologmaan1238
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Phonology

Consonants

More information Labial, Alveolar ...
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/r/ can also be heard as a tap sound [ɾ].

Vowels

More information Front, Back ...
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/i, u/ can be heard as [ɪ, ʊ] in closed syllables.[2]

Connection with Malagasy

The Malagasy language is an Austronesian language spoken in Madagascar, originating from its historical homeland in South East Borneo.[3][4] Malagasy is classified among the Southeast Barito languages,[3][5] and Ma'anyan is often listed as its closest relative, with Malagasy incorporating numerous Malay and Javanese loanwords.[5][6] It is known that Ma'anyan people were brought as labourers and slaves by Malay and Javanese people in their trading fleets, which reached Madagascar by ca. 50–500 AD.[7][8][9] There is high lexical similarity with other East Barito languages like Paku (77%) and Dusun Witu (75%). It is likely that the Malagasy had already acquired a separate ethnic and linguistic identity in South Borneo prior to their migration(s) to East Africa.[4] Based on linguistic evidence, it has been suggested that the early Malagasy migrants moved away from Borneo in the 7th century AD, if not later.[10][5]

Compared to Malagasy, Ma’anyan is characterized by a "West Indonesian" (Malay-type) morphosyntactic structure, a consequence of the long-standing influence of Malay on the languages of western Indonesia. While Malagasy is closer to the so-called “Philippine-type structure” (resembling many of the languages of the Philippines, Sabah, North Sulawesi, and Taiwan), it is also very innovative phonologically, perhaps as a result of its common phonological history with Comorian languages.[3]

Vocabulary

Vocabulary comparison between Malay, Banjarese, Ma'anyan, and Malagasy.

More information Malay, Banjarese ...
Malay Banjarese Ma'anyan Malagasy English
monyetwarikwarikvarika ('lemur')monkey
bembanbambanwaman
bulianbalianwadian
patihpatihpatisregent
lamalawaslawahlavalong (as in time)
kawankawalkawal/hengaunamanafriend
obattatambatatambatambavymedicine
senangarayarayravohappy, easy
masihmagunpagunmanangona ('to accumulate')to keep ...ing
aryaariauria
demangdamangdamhongspider
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References

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