Mah Meri language

Source: Kruspe, N., & Hajek, J. (2009). [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-phonetic-association/article/mah-meri/9A24F080E4DB641337DD772CE0BC5F76 Mah Meri] Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 39(2), 241-248. [https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100309003946 doi:10.1017/S0025100309003946]

Source:

There are two voice registers in Mah Meri:

Register 1: Register 1 vowels have a clear tense voice quality, shorter duration and lower pitch. Register 1 vowels also have fewer phonotactic restrictions.

Register 2: Register 2 vowels are laxer, longer and higher in pitch. Register 2 vowels also have a slight breathy voicing.

Source:

Source:

In Mah Meri, modifiers and demonstratives occur after the head as shown in examples (1) and (2) while prepositions occur before the head as shown in example (3).

{{interlinear|lang= mhe |number=(1)

|dṳk naleʔ

|house old

|'old house'}}

{{interlinear|lang= mhe |number=(2)

|lɘmɔl horoʔ ke

|man old that

|'that old man'}}

{{interlinear|lang= mhe |number=(3)

|haʔ mbɘri

|LOC forest

|'in the forest'}}

For transitive clauses, Mah Meri generally follows an Agent-Verb-Object (AVO) order as shown in example (4), but a Verb-Agent-Object (VAO) order is more common during natural discourse as shown in example (5).

{{interlinear|lang= mhe |number=(4)

|hŋkiʔ tomboʔ lɘmɔl ke

|3 punch man that

|'He punched that man.'}}

{{interlinear|abbreviations=PROX:proximal demonstrative;|lang= mhe |number=(5)

|lɘpas ke nɔŋ, ʔeʔə̤t kɘdeʔ, kaye hŋkiʔ ʔeʔə̤t

|after that PST:PROX 1SG hide see 3 1SG

|'After that, I hid, (lest) he see me.'}}

For intransitive clauses in Mah Meri, both Subject-Verb (SV) and Verb-Subject (VS) orders are possible as shown in examples (6) and (7) respectively.

{{interlinear|abbreviations=PROX:proximal demonstrative;|lang= mhe |number=(6)

|ʔeʔə̤t nimbol bawaw nɔŋ

|lSG come.from sea PST:PROX

|'I came from the sea just now.'}}

{{interlinear|lang= mhe |number=(7)

|lɛp do haʔ tə̤k

|enter water LOC ear

|'Water got into (my) ear.'}}

Source:

Morphology in Mah Meri is exclusively through prefixation and infixation.

1. Detransitivizing N- 'DTR'

::The prefix n- is attached to monosyllabic verbs and the vowel from the final syllable is reduplicated into the vowel position.

::Example: bɛ 'to do' → nɛ-bɛ 'doing, doer'

::For disyllabic verbs, the initial consonant is replaced by a homorganic nasal.

::Example: plɘt 'to extinguish' → m:ɘlɘt 'extinguishing'

2. Transitive focus ka- 'TR'

::The prefix ka- only applies to indigenous monosyllabic verbs.

::Example: jɛt 'to follow' → ka-jɛt 'to follow someone or something', cɔʔ 'to go' → ka-cɔʔ 'to go to someone or a place'

3. Distributive < l > 'DISTR'

::The infix < l > applies to disyllabic intransitive verbs of position or state and also some verbs of motion.

::The infix is inserted into the initial syllable and a schwa replaces to well to correct syllable structure.

::Example: kancɛw 'to be naked' → kɘlancɛw 'many naked (people)'.

::If the penultimate syllable CV is a palatal stop plus schwa, the < la > infix is applied instead.

::Example: jɘkɘʔ 'to sit motionless' → jɘ-la-kɘʔ 'many sitting motionless'

The prefix {{lang|mhe|sɘ}} is attached to the initial constituent of reduplicated bases to express iteration.

Example:

{{interlinear |lang=mhe |indent=2

|sɘ-nake-nake

|ITER-REDUP-that

|'that one over and over again'}}

The prefix {{lang|mhe|tɘ-}} expresses:

• an inadvertent event
• ability or inability when used in a negated clause.

Example: {{lang|mhe|tɘ-ka-ca}} 'happen to eat'

The prefix {{lang|mhe|bɘ-}} is applied to either verbal or nominal roots to express an attributive or possessive function.

Example: {{lang|mhe|bɘ-dṳk}} 'having a house'

According to Ethnologue, the language status of Mah Meri is '6b: Threatened', referring to the situation whereby the language is used for face-to-face communications within all generations, but is losing users. This status is based on Lewis and Smino's (2010){{cite journal |last1=Lewis |first1=M. Paul |last2=Simons |first2=Gary F. |title=Assessing endangerment: Expanding Fishman's GIDS |journal=Revue roumaine de linguistique |date=2010 |volume=55 |issue=2 |pages=103–120 |url=https://www.lingv.ro/RRL-2010.html |access-date=28 March 2020}} Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS).

A study by Coluzzi, Riget & Wang (2017){{cite journal |last1=Coluzzi |first1=Paolo |last2=Riget |first2=Patricia Nora |last3=Xiaomei |first3=Wang |title=Language vitality among the Orang Asli of Malaysia: the case of the Mah Meri on Telo' Gunjeng (Carey Island, Selangor) |journal=International Journal of the Sociology of Language |date=2017 |volume=2017 |issue=244 |pages=137–161 |doi=10.1515/ijsl-2016-0060 |s2cid=151338370 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313463745}} on language use and attitudes across 4 different Mah Meri villages on Carey Island suggests that while Mah Meri still holds a strong and positive status in the community, there is a possibility of a complete language shift towards Malay in the future due to lesser usage of Mah Meri amongst the younger generation.

{{Reflist}}

• http://projekt.ht.lu.se/rwaai RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
• http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-66E2-7@view Mah Meri in RWAAI Digital Archive
• ELAR archive of [http://elar.soas.ac.uk/deposit/0208 Mah Meri (and Ceq Wong) language documentation materials]

{{Languages of Malaysia}}

{{Austro-Asiatic languages}}

Category:Languages of Malaysia

Category:Aslian languages