Northeast Barito languages

The Northeast Barito languages (Indonesian: rumpun bahasa Barito Timur Laut) consist of several East Barito languages belonging to distinct Dayak subgroups. The languages include Bentian, Benuaq, Lawangan (most notable), Paser, and Tawoyan (or Taboyan), all of them are spoken in southeastern Kalimantan.^[1]

Northeast Barito
Geographic distribution	Indonesia (Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan)
Ethnicity	Various subgroups of Dayaks
Linguistic classification	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian (Barito) East Barito Northeast Barito
Subdivisions	Bentian Benuaq Lawangan Paser Taboyan
Language codes
Glottolog	nort2888

By far, only Lawangan and Tawoyan have received their own ISO 639-3 codes, lbx and twy, respectively. Because of this, all Northeast Barito languages but Tawoyan, are grouped as 'dialects' of Lawangan for convenience reasons, by Glottolog, for example.

Characteristics

This section primarily deals with Benuaq, Taboyan, and Paser, based on Alexander D. Smith's paper in 2018.

Rhotacism

In Paser, Taboyan, and Benuaq, *-d and *l went rhotacised into -r. On the last two examples, the instances of *j had been already merged with *d.^[2]

PMP	→	Daughter
*kapal 'thick'		Benuaq kapar
*quləj 'maggot, worm'		Paser ulor
*pusəj 'navel'		Taboyan pusər

Status of schwa

Before the following occurred, final *a had become *ə. Paser rounded all instances of schwa (*ə) into o, while Taboyan and Benuaq follow that but only in penultimate syllables. In final syllables, Benuaq lowered *-ə and *-əC into -aʔ and -aC (and effectively reverting the previous change), while Taboyan preserved the schwa (-əʔ, -əC).^[3]

PMP	→	Daughter
*duha 'two'		Taboyan duəʔ
*kaʀəm 'capsize'		Paser kayom