The Kayan–Murik languages are a group of Austronesian languages spoken in Borneo by the Kayan, Murik, and Bahau peoples.

Languages The Kayan–Murik languages include:

Kayan proper: Bahau, various languages called Kayan Murik

Smith (2017, 2019) Smith (2017, 2019) classifies the Kayanic languages as follows:

Kayanic Kayan–Murik–Merap Kayan Baram Rejang-Busang Bahau Data Dian Murik–Merap Ngorek Pua’ Huang Bau Merap

Notable sound changes Glottalisation of final vowels In all Kayan–Murik languages, final vowels *-a, *-i, and *-u are closed with a glottal stop (similar to Banyumasan or Ngapak dialect of Javanese). This process resulted -aʔ, -eʔ, and -oʔ in most languages, but two latter outcomes are instead -ayʔ and -awʔ in Merap.

However, the Kayan–Murik languages have different treatments regarding syllables ending in *-ʔ (inherited from PMP *-q). Data Dian Kayan (DDK) and Bahau lengthen PMP *-aq into -aːʔ (but -iʔ and -uʔ), Busang simply retains the glottal stops without any lengthening, meanwhile, Long Naah Kayan (LNK) and Balui Liko Kayan (BLK) deleted *-q altogether.

Final voiced stops Original final voiced stops have been altered to some extent in the Kayan–Murik languages. In LNK and DDK, *-b and *-d became nasalised into -m and -n, respectively (similar to Karo Batak). Meanwhile, in BLK and Busang, both are lenited into -v and -r. However, in Bahau, Ngorek, and Merap, the outcomes of final voiced stops are more variable, with *-b devoiced into -p, but *-d evolved into -l (Bahau), and then nasalised into -n (Ngorek and Merap).

Vowel breaking before velar consonants In DDK, BLK, and additionally Uma Juman Kayan (UJK), vowels *a and *i were broken into eə and iə, before velar consonants *k or *ŋ (*anak 'child' → aneək).

Outcomes of *z and *s In Bahau, PMP *s was debuccalised to h in all positions (eventually merging with the outcome of PMP *ʀ), while *z chain shifted to s. In other languages, *s was only debuccalised in initial, or final position; therefore, it is still retained in the medial position (merging with medial *-z-). Meanwhile, initial *z- became j- instead in these languages. However, in BLK and Busang, *-s was further deleted in the final position, but this rule did not apply for *-ʀ, nor the sequence *əs in Busang. Because of this, Alexander D. Smith speculates that the Proto-Kayanic outcome for PMP *z is *c, while *s remains unchanged.

PMP → Daughter *pusuʔ 'heart' Bahau puhuʔ *uzan 'rain' Bahau usan *bətis 'calf' Busang bəti *hapəjəs 'smarting pain' Busang pərah *qitəluʀ 'egg' Busang təloh

Sequences of nasals and voiced consonants In most Kayan–Murik languages, such sequences (*mb, *nd, *nj, *ŋg) have evolved into *b, *d, *j, *g, by deleting the homorganic nasals. This change followed the lenition of medial *-b- and *-d- into -v- (-f- in DDK and Bahau) and -r- in Kayan languages. However, in Murik and Merap, they merged with *mp, *nt, *nc, *ŋk, with devoiced plosives.

References

Bibliography

External links

Kaipuleohone archived materials of Kayan from the Robert Blust collection (RB2-003-A, RB2-003-C).