Kayan language (Borneo)

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

Kayan (Kajan, Kayan proper) is a dialect cluster spoken by the Kayan people of Borneo. It is a cluster of closely related dialects with limited mutual intelligibility, and is itself part of the Kayan-Murik group of Austronesian languages.

Kayan
Kajan
Native to	Indonesia, Malaysia
Region	Borneo
Ethnicity	Kayans
Native speakers	(35,000 cited 1981–2007)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Greater North Borneo ? Kayanic Kayan–Murik Kayan
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: xay – Kayan Mahakam kys – Baram Kayan bfg – Busang Kayan xkn – Kayan River Kayan xkd – Mendalam Kayan ree – Rejang Kayan whu – Wahau Kayan bhv – Bahau
Glottolog	kaya1333  Kayanic

Baram Kayan is a local trade language.^{[further explanation needed]} Bahau is part of the dialect cluster, but is not ethnically Kayan.

Internal classification

Glottolog v4.8 classifies the Kayan dialect cluster as follows:

Kayan	Bahau Baram Kayan Kayan River Kayan Mendalam Kayan Rejan–Makaham Kayan Busang Kayan Kayan Mahakam Rejang Kayan

Phonology

The following is based on the Baram dialect:

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	(tʃ)	k	ʔ
	tense		tː		kː
	voiced	b	d	dʒ	g
Fricative		β	s	(ʃ)		h
Tap/Trill			r
Lateral			l
Approximant		w		j

• /r/ can be heard as either a tap [ɾ] or a trill [r] in free variation.
• /k/ can be heard as [x] when in free fluctuation with [k] in word-medial position.
• /ɲ, ŋ/ can be realized as more fronted [ɲ̟, ŋ̟] when preceding high vocoids.
• /dʒ/ may also be heard as a palatalized stop [dʲ] in free fluctuation.
• /s/ may also be heard as [ʃ] in free variation, and may also fluctuate to a stop sound [tʃ].

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	ɛ	ə	ɔ
Open		a

• Length [Vː] is said to occur in free variation or in word-final position.
• /i/ can be heard as [ɪ] in initial or medial positions, or in free variation with [i].
• /ə/ can also be heard as [ɘ] in word-medial position.
• /a/ can be heard as [ɐ] before a medial or final /ʔ/ or /h/.
• /ɔ/ can be heard as [o] when before a /ʔ/ or /h/, or in fluctuation with [ɔ].^[2]

External links

1. Kayan Mahakam at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Baram Kayan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Busang Kayan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Kayan River Kayan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Mendalam Kayan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Rejang Kayan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   (Additional references under 'Language codes' in the information box)
2. Cubit, L. E. (1964). Kayan phonemics. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 120. pp. 409–423.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)