Melanau language

Not to be confused with Maranao language or Melanesian languages.

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.^[2]

Melanau
Central Melanau
Native to	Malaysia, Brunei
Region	Sarawak and neighbouring Brunei
Ethnicity	Melanau people
Native speakers	(110,000 cited 2000)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian North Bornean Melanau–Kajang 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
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Phonology

Consonants

Melanau has the following consonants.^[3]

		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.^[3]

	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].^[4]

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]^[5]