North Sarawakan languages

{{short description|Subgroup of the Austronesian language family}}

{{Infobox language family

|name=North Sarawakan

|altname=

|region=Northern Sarawak, Borneo

|familycolor=Austronesian

|fam2=Malayo-Polynesian

|fam3=North Bornean

|child1=Kenyah

|child2=Dayic

|child3=Berawan–Lower Baram

|child4=Bintulu

|child5=? Punan Tubu

|glotto=nort3171

|glottorefname=North Sarawakan

}}

The North Sarawakan languages are a group of Austronesian languages spoken in the northeastern part of the province of Sarawak, Borneo, and proposed in Blust (1991, 2010).

;North Sarawakan languages

Ethnologue 16 adds Punan Tubu as an additional branch, and notes that Bintulu might be closest to Baram. The Melanau–Kajang languages were removed in Blust 2010.

The Northern Sarawak languages are well known for strange phonological histories.{{sfn|Blust|2005|p=241}}

Classification

Smith (2017)Smith, Alexander. 2017. The Languages of Borneo: A Comprehensive Classification. PhD Dissertation: University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. classifies the North Sarawakan languages as follows.

Bintulu
Berawan–Lower Baram
Berawan (various dialects)
Lower Baram (Miri, Kiput, Narum, Belait, Lelak, Lemeting, Dali’)
Dayic
Kelabit (Bario, Pa’ Dalih, Tring, Sa’ban, Long Seridan, Long Napir)
Lun Dayeh (Long Bawan, Long Semadoh)
Kenyah
Highland (Lepo’ Gah, Lepo’ Tau, Lepo’ Sawa, Lepo’, Lepo’ Laang, Badeng, Lepo’ Jalan, Uma’ Baha, Uma’ Bem, Òma Lóngh)
Lowland
Eastern Lowland (Uma’ Pawe, Uma’ Timai, Lebo’ Kulit)
Western Lowland (Lebo’Vo’, Sebop, Penan (eastern and western varieties))

Footnotes

References

K. Alexander Adelaar and Nikolaus Himmelmann, The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar. Routledge, 2005.
{{cite journal |last1=Blust |first1=Robert A. |author-link=Robert Blust |title=Must sound change be linguistically motivated? |journal=Diachronica |date=7 December 2005 |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=219–269 |doi=10.1075/dia.22.2.02blu |citeseerx=10.1.1.570.7803 |url=https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.570.7803&rep=rep1&type=pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220617212824/https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.570.7803&rep=rep1&type=pdf |archive-date=17 June 2022 |url-status=live}}