Dusun language

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.{{cite journal|first=John A. |last=Lent|year=1974|title=Malaysia's guided media|doi=10.1080/03064227408532375|journal=Index on Censorship|volume=3|issue=4|page=66}} 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.{{Cite web |title=Official Language & Dialects |url=https://kdca.org.my/about/hongkodkoisaan/language |access-date=2 June 2021 |website=Kadazandusun Cultural Association Sabah |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last1=Lasimbang |first1=Rita |last2=Kinajil |first2=Trixie |date=2004 |title=Building Terminology in the Kadazandusun Language |journal=Current Issues in Language Planning |language=en |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=131–141 |doi=10.1080/13683500408668253}} 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.

The phonemes in Central Dusun and Coastal Kadazan are as follows:

Robinson specifies that /r/ in Tindal Dusun is a flap {{IPAblink|ɾ}}.

{{IPA|[x]}} occurs as an allophone of {{IPA|/k/}} in word-medial position.{{Cite book |last=Miller |first=Carolyn |title=Phonological Descriptions of Sabah Languages: Studies from Ten Languages: Bonggi, Ida'an, Kadazan/Dusun, Kalabuan, Kimaragang, Labuk-Kinabatangan Kadazan, Lotud, Tagal, Tatana', Tombonuwo |date=1993 |publisher=Sabah State Museum |editor-last=Boutin |editor-first=Michael E. |series=Sabah Museum Monograph, Vol. 4 |location=Kota Kinabalu |pages=1–14 |language=en |chapter=Kadazan/Dusun Phonology Revisited |editor-last2=Pekkanen |editor-first2=Inka}}

Tangit and MBDK note that Coastal Kadazan consonants correspond to the following consonants found in other varieties:

Kadazandusun is usually said to have four vowels /a i u o/. According to Tingit, /o/ in Central Dusun is less rounded [o̜, ɤ] than in Coastal Kadazan and is sometimes represented with ⟨e⟩.

Dusun is written using the Latin alphabet using 21 characters (the letters C, E, F, Q, and X are used in loanwords):

A B D G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z

These characters together are called Pimato.

Diphthongs: {{Grapheme|aa}} {{Grapheme|ai}} (sometimes pronounced {{IPA|/e/}}) {{Grapheme|ii}} {{Grapheme|oi}} {{Grapheme|uu}}

Some combinations of vowels do not form diphthongs and each vowel retains its separate sound: {{Grapheme|ao}} {{Grapheme|ia}} {{Grapheme|iu}} {{Grapheme|ui}} {{Grapheme|ue}}. In some words {{Grapheme|aa}} is not a diphthong, and this is indicated by an apostrophe between the two vowels: {{Lang|dtp|a'a}}.

Tindal Dusun{{Citation |last=Robinson |first=Laura C. |title=A Sketch Grammar of Tindal Dusun |date=2005 |url=http://www.ling.hawaii.edu/research/WorkingPapers/wp-robinson.pdf |series=Working Papers in Linguistics, 36(5) |publisher=University of Hawai{{okina}}i at Mānoa |mode=cs1 |access-date=31 December 2021 |archive-date=24 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024052832/http://www.ling.hawaii.edu/research/WorkingPapers/wp-robinson.pdf |url-status=dead }} 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 "emphatic" pronouns are used alone or preposedly, either as answers or to stress the pronoun.{{Cite book |author= | date=1994 | title=Komoiboros Dusun Kadazan | trans-title=Duzunkadazan Dictionary | location=Malaysia | publisher=Mongulud Boros Dusun Kadazan | pages=29–30}}

{{Interlinear|number=(1)| lang=dtp

|Ika i Kinomulok?

|You(emph) [personal] Kinomulok

|Are you Kinomulok?}}

{{Interlinear|indent = 4|lang=dtp

|I Kinomulok oku

|[personal] Kinomulok I

|I am Kinomulok.}}

{{Interlinear|number=(2)| lang=dtp

|Isai ko?

|Who you(non-emph)

|Who are you?}}

{{Interlinear|indent=4|lang=dtp

|I Tolimu oku

|[personal] Batholomew I

|I am Bartholomew.}}

{{Interlinear|number=(3)|lang=dtp|Ika mongoi.|You go|You go.}}

A typical Dusun sentence is VSO.{{Cite conference |author=Minah Sintian |date=2019 |title=Struktur Binaan Ayat Bahasa Kadazandusun dan Bahasa Melayu: Satu Pengenalan |trans-title=Kadazandusun and Malay Language Structural Sentence Construction: An Introduction |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334958122 |conference=Paper presented at the Seminar Antarabangsa Susastera, Bahasa dan Budaya Nusantara (SUTERA) 2019, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Pusat Penyelidikan Langkawi UKM, 1–2 August 2019 |language=ms |via=ResearchGate}}

{{Interlinear|lang=dtp|indent=2

|Poposidang oku parai.

|dry I rice

|I dry rice.}}

It is, however, possible for a grammatically correct Dusun sentence to be SVO.

{{Interlinear|lang=dtp|indent=2

|Oinsanan tangaanak sikul nonuan {do uniform.}

|all children school given uniform

|All students have been given uniforms.}}

To form numbers such as fifty or sixty, a multiplier is combined with a positional unit (tens, hundreds, thousands etc.), using {{Lang|dtp|no}}.

{{Interlinear|lang=dtp|indent=2

|tolu no hopod

|three already ten

|thirty}}

Separate units are combined with {{Lang|dtp|om}}.

{{Interlinear|lang=dtp|indent=2

|soriong om turu no hatus om duo no hopod om siam

|1000 and seven already 100 and two already ten and nine

|one thousand, seven hundred and twenty nine}}

The Dusun name of the months derive from the traditional cycle of paddy harvesting.

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|date=January 2022}} The names of Dusun days as part of the seven-day week derive from the life cycle of a butterfly.

Central Dusun language survived by three main dialect groups.

Liwanic :

Liwan,

Inobong Dusun

Bunduic :

Tindal,

Bundu,

Sinulihan,

Tagahas-Tibabar, Gobukon-Luba

Ulu Sugut Dusun :

Tinagas,

Talantang,

Tuhawon

All Central Dusun dialects are 100% mutually intelligible when conversing.

1 ¹ {{Lang|dtp|Tontok di timpuun i' om wonsoyo' no dii Kinorohingan do tawan om pomogunan.}} ² {{Lang|dtp|Aiso' 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.}} ³ {{Lang|dtp|Om pimboros noh Kinorohingan do poingkaa, "Nawau no," ka – om haro noddi o tanawau.}} ⁴ {{Lang|dtp|Om kokito noh Kinorohingan dot osonong i tanawau, om potongkiado' no dau i tanawau do mantad id totuong.}} ⁵ {{Lang|dtp|Om pungaranai noh Kinorohingan do "Dangadau" i tanawau, om "Dongotuong" i totuong. Om korikot no sosodopon om korikot nogiddi kosuabon – iri no tadau do koiso'.}}{{Cite book |title=Buuk do Kinorohingan: Habar dot Osonong |date=2007 |publisher=Pertubuhan Bible Malaysia |isbn=978-983-030-117-4 |location=Petaling Jaya |language=dtp}}

{{reflist}}

{{Citation |last=Tangit |first=Trixie M. |title=Planning Kadazandusun (Sabah, Malaysia): Labels, Identity and Language |date=May 2005 |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/1f21fe8b-7e05-46e8-880b-91b45077cecd/content |place=Mānoa |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa}}

{{Citation |last=Robinson |first=Laura C. |title=A sketch grammar of Tindal Dusun |date=2005 |work=University of Hawaiʻi Working Papers in Linguistics |volume=36 |issue=5 |pages=1–31 |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/95b5fe65-8229-41ee-b43b-1938b0b88ffa/content |place=Mānoa |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa}}

{{InterWiki|code=dtp}}

{{commons}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090203213433/http://www.klf.com.my/ Kadazandusun Language Foundation]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110207100717/http://www.sinompuru.com/ Kadazandusun Online Vocabulary Sharing]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130731092602/http://www.number2word.sinompuru.com/ Numbers in Dusun (Dynamic)]
• [https://tatoeba.org/eng/sentences/search?query=&from=dtp&to=und Collection of Central Dusun sentences at tatoeba.org]
• [https://tatoeba.org/eng/audio/index/dtp Collection of Central Dusun sentences with audio at tatoeba.org]

{{Languages of Brunei}}

{{Languages of Malaysia}}

{{Bornean languages}}

{{Greater North Borneo languages}}

Category:Dusunic languages

Dusun

Category:Verb–subject–object languages

Dusun