Brunei Bisaya language

Not to be confused with Bisayan languages, Cebuano language, or Tutong language.

Bisaya
Tutong 1
Collection of words in English and translation in Ida'an, Bisaya (Borneo) and Adang Murut (Lun Bawang) in 1860 by Spencer St.John
Region	Brunei, Sarawak
Native speakers	60,000 (2007) [1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Western Indonesian? Greater North Bornean? North Bornean Sabahan Southwest Dusunic–Paitanic Bisaya–Lotud–Dusunic? Bisaya–Lotud Bisaya
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bsb
Glottolog	brun1245

Bisaya, also known as Southern Bisaya, Brunei Bisaya, Brunei Dusun or Tutong 1, is a Sabahan language spoken in Brunei and Sarawak, Malaysia.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	( e )	( ə )	ɤ ~ o
Open		a

• /ɤ/ may also be heard as rounded [o], and may have an allophone of [ə].
• /i/ may also have an allophone of [e].

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	tʃ	k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d	dʒ	ɡ
	prenasal vl.	ᵐp	ⁿt
	prenasal vd.	ᵐb	ⁿd
Fricative			s		ɣ	( h )
Rhotic			( r )
Approximant		w	l	j

• /ɣ/ may also be heard as uvular [ʁ].
• Sounds /r, h/ are only restricted to Malay loanwords. ^{[2] [3]}

References

1. Bisaya at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Alas, Yabit (1994). The reconstruction of pre-Dusun and the classification of its descendants. University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.
3. Jamil, Hussain; Newman, John (1987). Limbang Bisaya: Society and Language. Sarawak Museum Journal 36(58). pp. 75–89.

External links

• Kaipuleohone's Robert Blust collection includes materials on Bisaya.