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Ehsan Danish

Temuan
Bahasak Temuan
Native toMalaysia
Regioncentral and southern Peninsular Malaysia
EthnicityTemuan
Native speakers
23,000 (2008)[1]
DialectsBelandas
Mantra
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3tmw
Glottologtemu1239
ELPTemuan

Temuan language (Temuan: Benua, Bual Uwang Hutarn, bual Mutan, Niap, Bahasak Temuan, Malay: Bahasa Temuan) is a Malayic language (part of the Austronesian language family) spoken by the Temuan people, one of the Orang Asli or indigenous peoples of Peninsular Malaysia which can be found in the states of Selangor, Pahang, Johor, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan. Temuan is a separate language but has a degree of mutual intelligibility with the Malay language. It is written in a Latin alphabet, but no standard orthography has been made.

Phonology

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e ə o
Open a

/ə/ may be pronounced as [ɐ] in syllable-initial prefixes.

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive/
Affricate
voiceless p t k (ʔ)
voiced b d ɡ
Fricative s ɣ h
Approximant w l j

The glottal stop [ʔ] is only heard in word-final and intervocalic positions.

/ɣ/ can be heard as [h] when in intervocalic positions. A trill [r] is rarely heard as a pronunciation of /ɣ/.

Nasal sounds /m, n, ŋ/ are heard as preploded [ᵖm, ᵗn, ᵏŋ], when in word-final positions.[2]

Vocabulary

Examples of Temuan words:

English Malay language Temuan language
I Saya/Aku Akuk
You (casual) Kau/Awak Ajih/Ong
You (formal) Kamu Higun
They Mereka/Diorang Didik/Gidi
Aunty Makcik/Inang[3] Inak
Uncle Pakcik/Mamak[4] Mamak
Bad Buruk/Jahat Barap/Nyap Elok/Nyahat
No/Not Tak Nyap
Don't have Tiada Hap
Alcohol/Liquor Arak Engkem/Aii/Sukuk
Hokkien mee Mi Jalung Hokieen Mee
Smoked monkey meat Daging kera salai Pantim
Day Hari Haik
People Orang Uwang/Eang
Tell Beritahu/Khabar[5] Kaba

Dialects

Temuan is divided into two major dialects, namely Belandas and Mantra, which differ mostly in terms of phonology and to some extent vocabulary but are still mutually intelligible.

Comparison between Belandas and Mantra dialects:

Sample of Temuan Belandas dialect – diak ('he/she'), hajak ('only'), kitak ('we'), tai (end of sentence particle).

Sample of Temuan Mantra dialect – dien ('he/she'), hajen ('only'), kiten ('we'), tea (end of sentence particle).

Footnotes

  1. ^ Temuan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Looi, Siew Teip; Baer, Adela S.; Mohamad, Jalil (2018). Temuan World of Words: A Temuan-Malay-English Word List. Subang Jaya, Malaysia: Center for Orang Asli Concerns.
  3. ^ "Carian Umum".
  4. ^ "Carian Umum".
  5. ^ "Carian Umum".