Central Dusun, also known as Bunduliwan (Dusun: Boros Dusun), is an Austronesian language and one of the more widespread languages spoken by the Dusun (including Kadazan) peoples of Sabah, Malaysia.
What is termed as Central Dusun (or simply Dusun) and Coastal Kadazan (or simply Kadazan) are deemed to be highly mutually intelligible to one other; many consider these to be part of a single language.
The language was among many other Sabahan vernacular languages suppressed under Mustapha Harun's assimilationist enforcement of Bahasa Malaysia across the state.[4] Under the efforts of the Kadazandusun Cultural Association Sabah, in 1995, the central Bundu-Liwan dialect was selected to serve as the basis for a standardised "Kadazandusun" language.[5][6] This dialect, spoken in the Bundu and Liwan valleys of the Crocker-Trusmadi ranges (now parts of the present-day districts of Ranau, Tambunan and Keningau), was selected as it was deemed to be the most mutually intelligible when conversing with other "Dusun" or "Kadazan" dialects.
Phonology
The phonemes in Central Dusun and Coastal Kadazan are as follows:
[x] occurs as an allophone of /k/ in word-medial position.[7]
Tangit and MBDK note that Coastal Kadazan consonants correspond to the following consonants found in other varieties:
Central Dusun consonant
Coastal Kadazan cognate
Example
/r/
/l/
CD ralan, CK lahan "road"
/r/
/∅/
CD boros, CK boos "word"
/l/
/h/
CD loyou, CK hozou "song"
/w/
/v/
CD awasi, CK avasi "good"
/j/
/z/
CD agayo, CK agazo "big"
Vowels
Kadazandusun is usually said to have four vowels /a i u o/. According to Tingit, /o/ in Central Dusun is less rounded than in Coastal Kadazan and is sometimes represented with ⟨e⟩.
Orthography
Dusun is written using the Latin alphabet using 21 characters (the letters C, E, F, Q, and X are used in loanwords):
Some combinations of vowels do not form diphthongs and each vowel retains its separate sound: ⟨ao⟩⟨ia⟩⟨iu⟩⟨ui⟩⟨ue⟩. In some words ⟨aa⟩ is not a diphthong, and this is indicated by an apostrophe between the two vowels: a'a.
Grammar
Personal pronouns
Tindal Dusun[8] has a Philippine-type focus system of syntax that makes one particular noun phrase in a sentence the most prominent. This prominent, focused noun phrase does not need to be the subject or the agent of the clause. In clauses with pronouns, the verbal morphology and the pronoun both indicate focus. If the verb carries actor focus morphology, the actor of the clause will therefore be a nominative pronoun (or, rarely, an emphatic pronoun). Any other noun phrase in the clause will necessarily take pronouns from a different set, as only one noun phrase can be in focus in any given clause.
The names for the days of the week are mostly based on a simple numerical sequence, which is commonly used for media and newspapers.[citation needed] The names of Dusun days as part of the seven-day week derive from the life cycle of a butterfly.
1 1Tontok di timpuun i' om wonsoyo' no dii Kinorohingan do tawan om pomogunan.2Aiso' po suang do pomogunan, om aiso' o poimpasi; om noolitan di rahat dot opuhod, om odondom o kotuongo'. Nga' mintongkopi' Rusod do Kinorohingan do hiri'd soibau di waig.3Om pimboros noh Kinorohingan do poingkaa, "Nawau no," ka – om haro noddi o tanawau.4Om kokito noh Kinorohingan dot osonong i tanawau, om potongkiado' no dau i tanawau do mantad id totuong.5Om pungaranai noh Kinorohingan do "Dangadau" i tanawau, om "Dongotuong" i totuong. Om korikot no sosodopon om korikot nogiddi kosuabon – iri no tadau do koiso'.[14]
↑ Bating, Henry (2008). Bahasa Kadazandusun dan Pembakuan[The Kadazandusun Language and Standardization]. Kursus Pemantapan Profesionalisme Bahasa Kadazandusun (in Malay). IPG Keningau. pp.1–11.
↑ Lasimbang, Rita; Kinajil, Trixie (2004). "Building Terminology in the Kadazandusun Language". Current Issues in Language Planning. 5 (2): 131–141. doi:10.1080/13683500408668253.
↑ Miller, Carolyn (1993). "Kadazan/Dusun Phonology Revisited". In Boutin, Michael E.; Pekkanen, Inka (eds.). Phonological Descriptions of Sabah Languages: Studies from Ten Languages: Bonggi, Ida'an, Kadazan/Dusun, Kalabuan, Kimaragang, Labuk-Kinabatangan Kadazan, Lotud, Tagal, Tatana', Tombonuwo. Sabah Museum Monograph, Vol. 4. Kota Kinabalu: Sabah State Museum. pp.1–14.
↑ Robinson, Laura C. (2005). A Sketch Grammar of Tindal Dusun(PDF). Working Papers in Linguistics, 36(5). University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Archived from the original(PDF) on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
1 2 Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia (2008). Puralan Boros Kadazandusun id Sikul (in Central Dusun). Putrajaya: Bahagian Pembangunan Kurikulum.
↑ Minah Sintian (2019). Struktur Binaan Ayat Bahasa Kadazandusun dan Bahasa Melayu: Satu Pengenalan[Kadazandusun and Malay Language Structural Sentence Construction: An Introduction]. Paper presented at the Seminar Antarabangsa Susastera, Bahasa dan Budaya Nusantara (SUTERA) 2019, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Pusat Penyelidikan Langkawi UKM, 1–2 August 2019 (in Malay) – via ResearchGate.
1 2 Price, Daniel Charles (2007). Bundu Dusun Sketch Grammar (in English and Central Dusun). Crawley: University of Western Australia.
1 2 Joseph Yabai, @ Jausip (18 August 2016). "Ondomo do tikid tadauwulan tulun Kadazandusun"[Memorize the calendar of the Kadazandusun]. Utusan Borneo (in Central Dusun). Retrieved 22 December 2021– via PressReader.
↑ Buuk do Kinorohingan: Habar dot Osonong (in Central Dusun). Petaling Jaya: Pertubuhan Bible Malaysia. 2007. ISBN978-983-030-117-4.
Robinson, Laura C. (2005), "A sketch grammar of Tindal Dusun", University of Hawaiʻi Working Papers in Linguistics, vol.36, no.5, Mānoa: University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, pp.1–31
Further reading
Kershaw, Eva Maria (1994). Dusun Folktales: Eighty-eight Folktales in the Dusun Language of Brunei with English translations. Southeast Asia Paper No. 39. Centre for Southeast Asian Studies School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies, University of Hawai’i at Manoa.
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