Semelai language

Semelai
Native to	Malaysia
Region	Malay Peninsula
Ethnicity	6,300 Semelai (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

Semelai is an Austroasiatic language spoken in the Malay Peninsula by Semelai people. 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.

Phonology

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
	preglottal		ʔl	ʔj
Trill	plain		r
	preglottal		ʔr

• 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		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

1. Semelai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Kruspe (2004a) , p. 32

References

• 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

• 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