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Semelai language

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Semelai is an Austroasiatic language spoken in the Malay Peninsula. It belongs to the Southern branch of the Aslian language subgrouping. The Semelai people reside predominantly around the Bera, Serting and associated river systems in the states of Pahang, Negeri Sembilan and Johor.

Semelai
Native to	Malaysia
Region	Malay Peninsula
Ethnicity	6,300 (2008)^[1]
Native speakers	4,100 (2009)^[1]
Language family	Austroasiatic Aslian Southern Aslian Semelai
Writing system	Latin script
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`sza`
Glottolog	`seme1247`
ELP	Semelai

Phonology

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Semelai has 32 consonants and 20 vowels.^[2]

Consonants
		Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	c	k	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	cʰ	kʰ
	voiced	b	d	ɟ	ɡ
Fricative			s ~ ɕ			h
Nasal	voiceless	m̥	n̥		ŋ̊
	voiced	m	n	ɲ	ŋ
	preglottal	ʔm	ʔn	ʔɲ
Approximant	plain		l	j	w
Approximant	preglottal		ʔl	ʔj
Trill	plain		r
Trill	preglottal		ʔr

This article should specify the language of its non-English content, using {{lang}}, {{transliteration}} for transliterated languages, and {{IPA}} for phonetic transcriptions, with an appropriate ISO 639 code. Wikipedia's multilingual support templates may also be used. See why. (December 2021)

Stops /p t c k/ are heard as [p̚ t̚ c̚ k̚] word-final position.
Palatal sounds /c ɟ/ are slightly affricated as [cᶝ ɟᶽ] when in word-initial position.
/s/ may occur as [s] or [ɕ] within free variation.
Nasals /m n ɲ ŋ/ can occur as prestopped [ᵇm ᵈn ᶡɲ ᶢŋ] when in word-final position.
/r/ can be heard as [ɾ] when in word-final position. When preceded by a nasal /n/ it is heard as [ᵈr].
/w j/ are heard as off-glides [ ʷ, ʲ] when in word-final position. After nasal vowels, they are then heard as nasalized [ ʷ̃, ʲ̃].

Vowels are also distinguished with nasal counterparts:

Vowels
	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ĩ	ʉ ʉ̃	u ũ
Close-mid	e ẽ	ə ə̃	o õ
Open-mid	ɛ ɛ̃	ə ə̃	ɔ ɔ̃
Open		a ã	ɒ ɒ̃

/ɒ/ is phonetically noted as [ɒ̙].
/i/ can be heard as [ɪ] in closed syllables
/ə/ can be heard as [ʌ] in stressed word-final syllables

Notes

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^ ^a ^b SemelaiatEthnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

^ Kruspe (2004)

References

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Hoe, Ban Seng (2001). Baer, Adela S.; Gianno, Rosemary (eds.). Semelai Communities at Tasek Bera: A Study of the Structure of an Orang Asli Society. Subang Jaya, Malaysia: Centre for Orang Asli Concerns. ISBN 983-40042-3-0.

Kruspe, Nicole (2004a). A Grammar of Semelai. Cambridge Grammatical Descriptions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81497-9.

Kruspe, Nicole (2004b). "Adjectives in Semelai". In Dixon, R. M. W.; A. Y. Aikhenvald (eds.). Adjective Classes: a cross-linguistic typology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 283–305.

External links

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http://projekt.ht.lu.se/rwaai RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-66E3-8@view Semelai in RWAAI Digital Archive

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Semelai_language&oldid=1234407963" Last edited on 14 July 2024, at 05:52

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