Is Penan Benalui a Kenyah language? On the classification of the languages of some hunter-gatherer populations in Borneo (original) (raw)
Related papers
Ethnobotany of the Penan Benalui of East Kalimantan, Indonesia
2005
Penan Benalui of East Kalimantan are a subgroup of Western Penan, one of the hunter-gatherer groups of Borneo in Indonesia. The Penan Benalui were nomads living in the forest of the interior part of Borneo until they settled down in villages in the 1960s. During the fieldwork in a Penan Benalui village in 2002, about 560 species of wild plants were col- lected and their ethnobotanical features were documented. Informants could identify most of the plants and gave about 550 local names. About 75% of the plants were reported to be in use and there were about 70 different uses. The difference in ethnobotanical knowledge was large between men and women of the younger generation. Men knew plants better than wom- en. This was probably because men still go to the forests very often for hunting and gathering while women spend more time in the village.
Ethnobotany of the Penan Benalui of East Kalimantan
Unknown Penerbit, 2002
Penan Benalui of East Kalimantan are a subgroup of Western Penan, one of the hunter-gatherer groups of Borneo in Indonesia. The Penan Benalui were nomads living in the forest of the interior part of Borneo until they settled down in villages in the 1960s. During the fieldwork in a Penan Benalui village in 2002, about 560 species of wild plants were collected and their ethnobotanical features were documented. Informants could identify most of the plants and gave about 550 local names. About 75% of the plants were reported to be in use and there were about 70 different uses. The difference in ethnobotanical knowledge was large between men and women of the younger generation. Men knew plants better than women. This was probably because men still go to the forests very often for hunting and gathering while women spend more time in the village.
Studying Linguistic and Cultural Contact in Borneo: Prospects and Challenges
Antropologia, 2014
In the variegated landscape of languages and cultures of Borneo, the study of languages is a powerful tool to shed light on the intricate history of relations that has long been obscured by the polarization between 'Dayak' and 'Malay'. This article looks at some of the features of Lebu' Kulit Kenyah, Penan Benalui, Punan Tubu' and Ma' Pnaan (Punan Malinau/ Segah) languages to clarify the linguistic and cultural affiliations among groups that were otherwise lumped together in vague classifications. It demonstrates what is to follow: according to a number of phonological, morphological and lexical evidence, and other historical evidence, Lebu' Kulit has to be listed among the Kayanic languages. Penan Benalui, like the other Penan languages, is not a Kenyah language, whereas Punan Tubu', despite the alleged cultural and social similarity with other Punan groups, cannot be classified within the Penan branch nor with other Punan languages. Ma' Pnaan or Punan Malinau/Segah is not a Punan language and is linguistically classified within the Kayanic branch of the Kayan-Kenyah subgroup.
2015
The M ller and northern Schwaner mountain ranges are home to a handful of tiny, isolated groups (Aoheng, Hovongan, Kereho, Semukung, Seputan), altogether totaling about 5,000 persons, which are believed to have been forest hunter-gatherers in a distant or recent past. Linguistic data were collected among these groups and other neighbouring groups between 1975 and 2010, leading to the delineation of two distinct clusters of languages of nomadic or formerly nomadic groups, which are called MSP (M ller-Schwaner Punan) and BBL (Bukat-Beketan-Lisum) clusters. These languages also display lexical affinity to the languages of various major Bornean settled farming groups (Kayan, Ot Danum). Following brief regional and particular historical sketches, their phonological systems and some key features are described and compared within the wider local linguistic setting, which is expected to contribute to an elucidation of the ultimate origins of these people and their languages.
Undergoer voice in Borneo Penan, Punan, Kenyah, and Kayan languages
2013
This paper describes the morphosyntactic characteristics of a few languages in Borneo, which belong to the North Borneo phylum. It is a typological sketch of how these languages express undergoer voice. It is based on data from Penan Benalui, Punan Tubu', Punan Malinau in East Kalimantan Province, and from two Kenyah languages as well as secondary source data from Kayanic languages in East Kalimantan and in Sawarak (Malaysia). Another aim of this paper is to explore how the morphosyntactic features of North Borneo languages might shed light on the linguistic subgrouping of Borneo's heterogeneous hunter-gatherer groups, broadly referred to as 'Penan' in Sarawak and 'Punan' in Kalimantan. North Borneo (99) (1) Melanau-Kajang (11) Kajang (6) Bukitan (Indonesia (Kalimantan)) Kajaman Lahanan Sekapan Sian Ukit Melanau (5) (2) North Sarawakan (53) Berawan-Lower Baram (8) Berawan (3) Lower Baram (5) Kiput Bintulu (1) Dayic (18) Kelabitic Kelabit Lengilu Lun Bawang Putoh Sa'ban Tring Murutic Kayan-Kenyah (25) Kayanic (17) Kayan Proper (8) Bahau Kayan Mahakam Kayan Baram Kayan Busang Kayan river Kayan Kayan Mendalam Kayan Rejang Kayan Wahau Modang (2) Modang (Indonesia (Kalimantan)) Segai (Kalimantan)) Müller-Schwaner Punan (6) Aoheng (Indonesia (Kalimantan)) Hovongan (Indonesia (Kalimantan)) Kereho (Indonesia (Kalimantan)) Punan Aput (Indonesia (Kalimantan)) Punan Merah (Indonesia (Kalimantan)) Bukat (Indonesia (Kalimantan)) Murik Kayan (1) Kenyah (6): Kayanic Kenyah (3) Kenyah, Wahau Long Wat Sebop Upper Pujungan (2) Kenyah, Mainstream Uma Lung (Òma Lóngh) Penan (2) Penan, Eastern (Malaysia (Sarawak))
Dissertation providing the most comprehensive classification of the languages of Borneo ever compiled.
Salako or Badameà, sketch grammar, texts and lexicon of a Kanayatn dialect in West Borneo (review)
Oceanic Linguistics, 2007
The Salako language, spoken in parts of West Kalimantan and Sarawak, is accepted as belonging to the Malayic family (Adelaar 1992a), but despite this linguistic af²liation, Salako speakers are culturally far removed from present-day Malay groups in Western Indonesia due to the preservation to their traditional lifestyle and religion until relatively recently. The Salako are, of course, not the only "Dayak" people of Kalimantan to be counted in the Malayic family; other such groups include the Iban and the Kendayan. But in contrast to the better-documented Iban language, Salako had not received suf²cient attention from linguists prior to Adelaar's earlier publications, especially in regard to grammar and morphology. The present grammar thus represents the ²rst attempt at offering a more holistic picture of the Salako language, and ²lls an important gap in our knowledge of the Malayic family and the linguistic landscape of West Kalimantan. The grammar, however, as stated in the title, is only a sketch. It covers the fundamental points of the phonology and morphology of the language along with a basic picture of the syntax. The bulk of the book comprises a collection of texts in Salako with English translations and a lexicon. It is the product of Adelaar's ²eldwork in Nyarumkop, a Roman Catholic parochial center located in the Singkawang Timur district, Benkayang regency, where he collected data intermittently between the late 1980s and 2004. In what follows, I review the content and presentation of this publication while at the same time highlighting some points of Salako grammar that are of importance for current issues in linguistics. The relevance of Salako to the reconstruction and subgrouping of Malayic has already been dealt with by Adelaar in several articles (Adelaar 1992a, 1992b, 2004, 2005b). The book is organized into four parts. Part i is an introduction containing basic information about the speaker community, the history of Salako scholarship, and the recent sociolinguistic situation. Part ii is a sketch grammar with subsections covering phonology, morphophonology, and morphosyntax. Part iii consists of 20 texts that are mostly narrated stories, procedural texts, and stories explaining Salako customs with a few samples of dialogue included. Part iv, the ²nal part, is a Salako-English lexicon. The introduction is well written and informative, enriched by Adelaar's longstanding interest in the language area in particular, and in the Malayic family more generally. We are told here about the various linguistic pressures affecting Salako speakers today, the greatest of which is from Indonesian, as is evident from the code-mixing within the texts. This pressure is not new; in earlier times, Adelaar informs us, the Catholic church was responsible for the marginalization of Salako by their promotion of Malay as the of²cial liturgical language. In regard to classi²cation, Adelaar locates Malayic in the framework of his Malayo-Sumbawan hypothesis (Adelaar 2005a) which groups Madurese, Sundanese, Sasak, Sumbawa, Balinese, Chamic, and Malayic into a single subgroup of Malayo-Polynesian.