Kelabit-English Vocabulary.
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THE SARAWAK MUSEUM JOURNAL |
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Title :
Kelabit-English Vocabulary. |
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Author :
Robert Blust |
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Abstract:
GENERAL BACKGROUND. Kelabit is an important language spoken over a more-or-less continuous area in upriver portions of the Fourth and Fifth Divisions of Sarawak and in neighboringareas of Indonesian Borneo, generally at altitudes above 2,000 feet. Asmah (1983) estimates the total number of speakers at 3,000, but this surely excludes the Kelabits of Kalimantan, and probably underestimates the total in Sarawak. Hudson (1977: 25), who groups Kelabit with Lun Dayeh and Lun Bawang in an “Apo Duat” dialect complex, notes that “several phonologically distinguishable-dialectsare discernible”. Despite Hudson’s extensive survey work in Borneo, however, the number and diversity of Kelabit-Lun Dayeh/Lun Bawang dialects remains unknown. In 1971 the writer recorded material in the speech of Long Semado, Bario, Pa’ Dalih, Long Lellang, Long Napir and Long Seridan (the latter two almost identical). Long Terawan and Long Banga’. Long Semado speakers call themselves “Lun Bawang”, Bario, Pa’ Dalih, Long Lellang and Long Napir/Long Seridan speakers call themselves “Kelabit”, the non-Berawan speakers at Long Terawan call themselves “Tring” and Long Banga’ speakers call themselves “Sa’ban” or “Saban”, yet it was clear from comparison among them that by at least a lexicostatistical criterion these language varieties form seven dialects of a single language. To facilitate further discussion I will follow Hudson in calling this language “Apo Duat”.
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| DOI: XXXX |
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How to cite:
Robert Blust. (1993). Kelabit-English Vocabulary. The Sarawak Museum Journal, XLIV (65): 141-226 |
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References
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