Semelai
StatesMalaysia
RegionMalay Peninsula
EthnicitySemelai (2008)[1]
Speakers4,100
Date2009
Refe18
FamilycolorAustroasiatic
Fam 2Aslian
Fam 3Southern Aslian
ScriptLatin script
Iso 3sza
Glottoseme1247
GlottorefnameSemelai

Semelai is an Austroasiatic language spoken in the Malay Peninsula by Semelai people. It belongs to the Southern branch of the Aslian language subgrouping. The Semelai people reside predominantly around the Bera, Serting and associated river systems in the states of Pahang, Negeri Sembilan and Johor.

Semelai is a split ergative language motivated by semantics and word order shift.[2]

Phonology

Semelai has 32 consonants and 20 vowels.[3]

Consonants
BilabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
Plosivevoicelessptckʔ
aspiratedpʰtʰcʰkʰ
voicedbdɟɡ
Fricatives ~ ɕh
Nasalvoicelessm̥n̥ŋ̊
voicedmnɲŋ
preglottalʔmʔnʔɲ
Approximantplainljw
preglottalʔlʔj
Trillplainr
preglottalʔr
  • Stops /p t c k/ are heard as [p̚ t̚ c̚ k̚] word-final position.
  • Palatal sounds /c ɟ/ are slightly affricated as [cᶝ ɟᶽ] when in word-initial position.
  • /s/ may occur as [s] or [ɕ] within free variation.
  • Nasals /m n ɲ ŋ/ can occur as prestopped [ᵇm ᵈn ᶡɲ ᶢŋ] when in word-final position.
  • /r/ can be heard as [ɾ] when in word-final position. When preceded by a nasal /n/ it is heard as [ᵈr].
  • /w, j/ are heard as off-glides [ʷ, ʲ] when in word-final position. After nasal vowels, they are then heard as nasalized [ʷ̃, ʲ̃].

Vowels are also distinguished with nasal counterparts:

Vowels
FrontCentralBack
Closei ĩʉ ʉ̃u ũ
Close-mide ẽə ə̃o õ
Open-midɛ ɛ̃ɔ ɔ̃
Opena ãɒ ɒ̃
  • /ɒ/ is phonetically noted as [ɒ̙].
  • /i/ can be heard as [ɪ] in closed syllables
  • /ə/ can be heard as [ʌ] in stressed word-final syllables

Morphosyntax

Semelai has many inchoative verbs such as rmɔl "to be male", hitam "be black", which at the first glance may hint a flexible language like nearby Austronesian languages. However, the vast majority of Semelai lemmas can be identified unproblematically to a particular word category. Verbs and nouns must undergo derivation via infixation or prefixation in order to function as other lexical categories, eg. rlmɔl "male" → rmɔl "to be male", yɔk "take" → nk-yɔk "taking INF". Loan words from Austronesian are mostly precategorial, eg. tuŋkɒt "a stick, to prop up".[4] The language recognizes several distinct parts of speech that are morphologically and syntactically distinguished: the superclass nominal (which includes nouns as an open word class); verb; expressive; preposition; adverb; auxiliary; existential and ascriptive predicators; negator; connective; interjection.[5]

Nominal morphology

Free pronouns

Semelai free pronouns[6]
Minimal familiarMinimalAugmentedSingularPlural
1st personʔəɲyɛyɛʔen
2nd personkɒjijɛʔen
1st & 2ndhɛhɛʔen
3rd personkəhdeh
3rd Subjectkəhndehn

Pronominal clitics

These pronominal clitics are used to mark agreement with the ergative argument of transitive verbs and highly volitional argument of intransitive, human activity-denoting verbs.

Minimal familiarMinimalAugmentedSingularPlural
1st personʔəɲ=yɛ=hɛ=
2nd personkɒ=ji=
3rd personki=de=
3rd Unidentifiedko=

Notes

  1. ^ e18
  2. ^ Kruspe 2004a, pp. 5–6.
  3. ^ (Kruspe 2004a, p. 32)
  4. ^ Kruspe 2004a, p. 95.
  5. ^ Kruspe 2004a, p. 94.
  6. ^ Kruspe 2004a, p. 171.

References

  • Hoe, Ban Seng (2001). Semelai Communities at Tasek Bera: A Study of the Structure of an Orang Asli Society. Baer, Adela S. & Gianno, Rosemary (eds.). Subang Jaya, Malaysia: Centre for Orang Asli Concerns. ISBN 983-40042-3-0.
  • Kruspe, Nicole (2004a). A Grammar of Semelai. Cambridge Grammatical Descriptions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81497-9.
  • Kruspe, Nicole (2004b). "Adjectives in Semelai". Adjective Classes: a cross-linguistic typology. Dixon, R. M. W. & A. Y. Aikhenvald (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 283–305.