Berawan language


Berawan is an Austronesian language spoken in eastern Sarawak, Malaysia.

Dialects

  1. Lakiput
  2. Narom
  3. Lelak
  4. Dali
  5. Miri long teran
  6. Belait
  7. Tutong
  8. Long Terawan
  9. Long Tutoh
  10. Mulu Caves

Distribution

  1. Baram
  2. Batu Bela
  3. Long Terawan
  4. Long Teru
  5. Long Jegan
  6. Long Teran
  7. Long Tabing
  8. Long Takong
  9. Loagan Bunut National Park
  10. Long Patan
  11. Long Palo
  12. Long Kuk

Reconstruction

Proto-Berawan is the reconstructed proto-language of all Berawan language varieties. Its phonology has been extensively reconstructed by Jürgen M. Burkhardt in 2014.

Sound changes from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian

;Severe limitations on antepenult syllables
All preantepenult syllables were lost in Proto-Berawan: *kalapani > *ləpineʔ > metathesised *pəlineʔ 'swallow '. Following this stage, all vowels in antepenult syllables were neutralised into *ə: *tinaʔi > *tənaʔeʔ 'small intestines'.
;Vowel changes in penult syllables
The vowel *i, when preceding a vowel, inserted a glide in between, followed by other developments. Meanwhile, *ə largely did not change during Proto-Berawan stage, but it geminated the following consonant. The only exceptions were in word-initial position, in two words changed early into *a, while in two others simply deleted it.
When following other consonants, *a remains, but when following voiced or palatal consonants, it became *i instead. The consonant *l did not block the raising.