Kayan–Murik languages

For the unrelated "Kayan" language spoken by the Kayan people of Burma, see Padaung language.

The Kayan–Murik languages are a group of Austronesian languages spoken in Borneo by the Kayan, Murik, and Bahau peoples.

Kayan–Murik
Kayan–Murik–Merap[1]
Geographic distribution	central Borneo (East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, Sarawak, and West Kalimantan)
Linguistic classification	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Greater North Borneo ? Kayanic Kayan–Murik
Subdivisions	Kayan Murik
Language codes
Glottolog	kaya1336

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:^[1][2]

• 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 languages, but two latter outcomes are instead -ayʔ and -awʔ in Merap.^[3]

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.^[4]

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 into -p, but *-d evolved into -l (Bahau), and then nasalised into -n (Ngorek and Merap).^[5]

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).^[6]

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 shifted 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.^[7]

PMP	→	Daughter
*pusuʔ 'heart'		Bahau puhuʔ
*uzan 'rain'		Bahau usan
*bətis 'calf'		Busang bəti
*hapəjəs 'smarting pain'		Busang pərah
*qitəluʀ 'egg'		Busang təloh

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.^[8] This change followed the lenition of medial *-b- and *-d- into -v- (-f- in DDK and Bahau) and -r- in Kayan languages.^[8] However, in Murik and Merap, they merged with *mp, *nt, *nc, *ŋk, with devoiced plosives.^[9]