Sabahan languages

The Sabahan languages are a group of Austronesian languages centered on the Bornean province of Sabah.

Sabahan
Geographic distribution	Sabah, Borneo
Linguistic classification	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian East Malaysia? Greater North Bornean? North Bornean Sabahan
Glottolog	saba1285

Languages

Blust (2010)

The constituents are separated into two families in Blust (2010):

Northeast Sabahan

• Bonggi
• Ida’an

Southwest Sabahan

• Dusunic (15)
• Paitanic (4)
• Murutic (7)
• Tidong (5)

Lobel (2013)

Lobel (2013b, p. 47, 361) proposes the following internal classification of Southwest Sabahan, based on phonological and morphological evidence.^[1]

• Greater Dusunic
  • Dusunic
  • Bisaya-Lotud
  • Paitanic
• Greater Murutic
  • Murutic
  • Tatana
  • Papar

Lobel (2013:367–368) lists the following Proto-Southwest Sabahan phonological innovations that were developed from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian. (Note: PSWSAB stands for Proto-Southwest Sabahan, while PMP stands for Proto-Malayo-Polynesian.)

• PMP *h > PSWSAB Ø
• PMP *a > PSWSAB *ə / _# (possibly be an areal feature in Sabah or northern Borneo, since this is also found in Idaanic)
• PMP *R > PSWSAB *h / (a,i,u)_(a,ə,u)
• PMP *R > PSWSAB *g / ə_
• PMP *-m- > ø in PSWSAB reflexes of the PMP pronoun forms *kami ‘1EXCL.NOM’, *mami ‘1EXCL.GEN’, and *kamu ‘2PL.NOM’
• Reduction of most PMP consonant clusters to either singletons or prenasalized clusters

Smith (2017)

Smith (2017)^[2] proposes a North Borneo group comprising the North Sarawak, Northeast Sabah, and Southwest Sabah branches.

• North Sarawak
  • Bintulu
  • Berawan–Lower Baram
  • Dayic
  • Kenyah
• Northeast Sabah (Bonggi, Idaanic)
• Southwest Sabah
  • Greater Dusunic
    • Bisaya–Lotud–Dusunic
      • Bisaya–Lotud (Sabah and Limbang Bisaya, Brunei Dusun, Lotud)
      • Dusunic (Bundu, Liwan, Tindal, Tobilung, Rungus, Kadazan, Kujau, Minokok, Dumpas, etc)
    • Paitanic (Beluran, Lingkabau, Lobu, Kuamut, Murut Serudong)
  • Greater Murutic
    • Tatana
    • Papar
    • Murutic (Murut (Nabaay, Timugon, Paluan, Tagol, Kalabakan), Gana, Tingalan, Kolod, Abai, Bulusu, Tidung (Bengawong, Sumbol, Kalabakan, Mensalong, Malinau))

Footnotes

1. Lobel (2013b), pp. 36–68
2. Smith, Alexander (2017). The Languages of Borneo: A Comprehensive Classification (PDF) (Ph.D. dissertation). University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

References

• Adelaar, K. Alexander; Himmelmann, Nikolaus, eds. (2005). The Austronesian Languages of Asia and Madagascar. Oxon, UK: Routledge.
• King, Julie K.; King, John Wayne, eds. (2015). Languages of Sabah: A Survey Report. Pacific Linguistics, Series C – No. 78. Canberra: Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University. doi:10.15144/PL-C78.
• Lobel, Jason William (2013a). Philippine and North Bornean Languages: Issues in Description, Subgrouping, and Reconstruction (PDF) (Ph.D. dissertation). University of Hawai'i at Manoa.
• Lobel, Jason William (2013b). "Southwest Sabah Revisited". Oceanic Linguistics. 52 (1): 36–68. doi:10.1353/ol.2013.0013.