Jahai language

{{Infobox language

|name=Jahai

|nativename=

|states=Malaysia, a few in Thailand

|region=

|ethnicity={{sigfig|1,810|2}} Jahai people (2008)

|speakers=1,000 in Malaysia

|date=2006

|ref=e18

|familycolor=Austro-Asiatic

|fam2=Aslian

|fam3=Jahaic

|fam4=Eastern

|iso3=jhi

|glotto=jeha1242

|glottorefname=Jehai

}}

Jahai (Jehai) is an aboriginal Mon–Khmer language spoken by the Jahai people living in the montane rainforests of northern Peninsular Malaysia and southernmost Thailand. It is the largest Northern Aslian language. Though spoken by only a little more than 1,000 people, Jahai does not appear to be in immediate danger of extinction due to the prevalence of Jahai parents passing on the language to their children as their mother tongue.{{Cite book |last=Burenhult |first=Niclas |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/146729/1/PL-566.pdf |title=A Grammar of Jahai |publisher=Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University |year=2005 |isbn=0-85883-554-1 |series=Pacific Linguistics 566 |location=Canberra |doi=10.15144/pl-566 |hdl=1885/146729 |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free}}

Jahai has a unique vocabulary for describing odors.

Phonology

= Vowels =

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" \|+Jahai vowels ! !Front !Central !Back
Close \|{{IPA link\|i}} {{IPA link\|ĩ}} \|{{IPA link\|ɨ}} {{IPA link\|ɨ̃}} \|{{IPA link\|u}} {{IPA link\|ũ}}
Close-mid \|{{IPA link\|e}} \| \|{{IPA link\|o}}
Open-mid \|{{IPA link\|ɛ}} {{IPA link\|ɛ̃}} \|{{IPA link\|ə}} {{IPA link\|ə̃}} \|{{IPA link\|ɔ}} {{IPA link\|ɔ̃}}
Open \| \|{{IPA link\|a}} {{IPA link\|ã}} \|

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+Jahai vowels

!Front

!Central

!Back

|{{IPA link|i}} {{IPA link|ĩ}}

|{{IPA link|ɨ}} {{IPA link|ɨ̃}}

|{{IPA link|u}} {{IPA link|ũ}}

Close-mid

|{{IPA link|e}}

|{{IPA link|o}}

Open-mid

|{{IPA link|ɛ}} {{IPA link|ɛ̃}}

|{{IPA link|ə}} {{IPA link|ə̃}}

|{{IPA link|ɔ}} {{IPA link|ɔ̃}}

Open

|{{IPA link|a}} {{IPA link|ã}}

= Consonants =

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" \|+Jahai consonants ! colspan="2" \| !Bilabial !Alveolar !Palatal !Velar !Glottal
colspan="2" \|Nasal \|{{IPA link\|m}} \|{{IPA link\|n}} \|{{IPA link\|ɲ}} \|{{IPA link\|ŋ}} \|
rowspan="2" \|Plosive !voiceless \|{{IPA link\|p}} \|{{IPA link\|t}} \|{{IPA link\|c}} \|{{IPA link\|k}} \|rowspan="2"\|{{IPA link\|ʔ}}
voiced \|{{IPA link\|b}} \|{{IPA link\|d}} \|{{IPA link\|ɟ}} \|{{IPA link\|ɡ}}
colspan="2" \|Fricative \|{{IPA link\|ɸ}} \| \|{{IPA link\|s}} \| \|{{IPA link\|h}}
colspan="2" \|Lateral \| \|{{IPA link\|l}} \| \| \|
colspan="2" \|Rhotic \| \|{{IPA link\|ɾ}}~{{IPA link\|r}} \| \| \|
colspan="2" \|Approximant \|{{IPA link\|w}} \| \|{{IPA link\|j}} \| \|

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+Jahai consonants

! colspan="2" |

colspan="2" |Nasal

|{{IPA link|m}}

|{{IPA link|n}}

|{{IPA link|ɲ}}

|{{IPA link|ŋ}}

rowspan="2" |Plosive

!voiceless

|{{IPA link|p}}

|{{IPA link|t}}

|{{IPA link|c}}

|{{IPA link|k}}

|rowspan="2"|{{IPA link|ʔ}}

voiced

|{{IPA link|b}}

|{{IPA link|d}}

|{{IPA link|ɟ}}

|{{IPA link|ɡ}}

colspan="2" |Fricative

|{{IPA link|ɸ}}

|{{IPA link|s}}

|{{IPA link|h}}

colspan="2" |Lateral

|{{IPA link|l}}

colspan="2" |Rhotic

|{{IPA link|ɾ}}~{{IPA link|r}}

colspan="2" |Approximant

|{{IPA link|w}}

|{{IPA link|j}}

= Syllable structure =

On the surface level, the maximal syllable in Jahai is represented as CV(C). The onset consonant is obligatorily required.

= Stress and tone =

The position of stress always falls on the last syllable. Burenhult states there is no tonal distinction in Jahai language.

Olfactory categories

Odor terms in Jahai are based on abstract qualities rather than specific sources (which is more common cross-linguistically, particularly in European languages).{{Cite journal|last1=Majid|first1=Asifa|last2=Burenhult|first2=Niclas|last3=Stensmyr|first3=Marcus|last4=de Valk|first4=Josje|last5=Hansson|first5=Bill S.|date=2018|title=Olfactory language and abstraction across cultures|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|volume=373|issue=1752|pages=20170139|doi=10.1098/rstb.2017.0139|issn=0962-8436|pmc=6015838|pmid=29915007}}

class="wikitable"

|+Odor terms{{Cite journal|last1=Majid|first1=Asifa|last2=Burenhult|first2=Niclas|date=2014|title=Odors are expressible in language, as long as you speak the right language|journal=Cognition|volume=130|issue=2|pages=266–270|doi=10.1016/j.cognition.2013.11.004|pmid=24355816|issn=0010-0277|hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-0014-9D63-D|s2cid=16257849|hdl-access=free}}

!Odor terms

!Approximate translation

!Examples of sources

!Notes

|'to smell edible, tasty'

|cooked food, sweets

|'to smell roasted'

|roasted food

|'to be fragrant'

|various flowers, perfumes, soap

|Malay loan; original Malay meaning 'fragrant'

|'to be fragrant'

|various flowers, perfumes, bearcat

|'to stink'

|feces, rotten meat, prawn paste

|'to be musty'

|old dwellings, mushrooms, stale food

|'to have a stinging smell'

|petrol, smoke, bat droppings

|'to have a smell of human urine'

|human urine, village ground

|'to have a urine-like smell'

|urine

|Malay loan; original Malay meaning 'foul odor, stench'

{{lang|jhi|pʔih}}, {{lang|jhi|plʔeŋ}}

|'to have a blood/fish/meat-like smell'

|blood, raw fish, raw meat

|'to have a bloody smell which attracts tigers'

|crushed head lice, squirrel blood

References

External links

http://projekt.ht.lu.se/rwaai RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-6701-4@view Jahai in RWAAI Digital Archive
[https://doreco.huma-num.fr/languages/jeha1242 Jahai DoReCo corpus] compiled by Niclas Burenhult. Audio recordings of narrative texts with transcriptions time-aligned at the phone level, translations, and - for some texts - time-aligned morphological annotations.

Category:Languages of Malaysia

Category:Languages of Thailand

Category:Aslian languages