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Tutong language
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| Tutong | |
|---|---|
| Tutong 2 | |
| Region | Brunei |
Native speakers | 17,000 (2006)[1] |
Austronesian
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ttg |
| Glottolog | tuto1241 |
The Tutong language, also known as Basa Tutong, is a language spoken by approximately 17,000 people in Brunei. It is the main language of the Tutong people, the majority ethnic group in the Tutong District of Brunei.
Classification
[edit]Tutong is an Austronesian language and belongs to the Rejang–Baram group of languages spoken in Brunei as well as Kalimantan, Indonesia, and Sarawak, Malaysia.[2] Tutong is related to the Belait language with roughly 54% of basic vocabulary being cognate.[3]
Language use
[edit]Today, many speakers of Tutong are shifting away from the traditional language and code-mix or code-shift with Brunei Malay, Standard Malay and English.[4] The language has been given a vitality rating of 2.5 based on a scale of 0–6 that uses the measures of the rate of transmission to future generations, the level of official support, and the geographical concentration of speakers.[2][5] This means it is considered endangered.
Nonetheless, there is interest in revitalising the language. Since 2012, a module has been taught in Tutong at Universiti Brunei Darussalam.[6] Similarly, the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (Brunei's language agency) published a Tutong–Malay, Malay–Tutong dictionary in 1991 and a word list of several Brunei languages in 2011.[2][6]
Phonology
[edit]Vowels
[edit]| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | ɛ | (ə) | ɔ |
| Open | a aː |
- Vowels /i, ɛ, a, u/ are heard as [e, ə, ʌ, o] in lax positions.
- /ɛ, a/ can also be freely heard as [ə, ʌ] in syllable-initial positions.
Consonants
[edit]| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | ʔ |
| voiced | b | d | dʒ | ɡ | ||
| Fricative | s | ɣ | ||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||
- Sounds /p, k, m/ may also be geminated as [pː, kː, mː].
- Other sounds /z, ʃ, x, h/ may occur from loanwords.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ Tutong at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ a b c Martin, Peter W. (1995). "Whiter the Indigenous Languages of Brunei Darussalam?". Oceanic Linguistics. 34 (1): 27–43. doi:10.2307/3623110. JSTOR 3623110.
- ^ Nothofer, Bernd (1991). "The Languages of Brunei Darussalam". In Steinhauer, H. (ed.). Papers in Austronesian Linguistics No. 1. Pacific Linguistics Series A-81. Canberra: The Australian National University. pp. 151–176. doi:10.15144/PL-A81.151. ISBN 0-85883-402-2.
- ^ Clynes, Adrian (2012). "Dominant Language Transfer in Minority Language Documentation Projects: Some Examples from Brunei". Language Documentation and Conservation. 6: 253–267. hdl:10125/4539.
- ^ Coluzzi, Paolo (2010). "Endangered Languages in Borneo: A Survey among the Iban and Murut (Lun Bawang) in Temburong, Brunei". Oceanic Linguistics. 49 (1): 119–143. doi:10.1353/ol.0.0063. S2CID 144349072.
- ^ a b McLellan, James (2014). "Strategies for Revitalizing Endangered Borneo Languages: A Comparison Between Negara Brunei Darussalam and Sarawak, Malaysia" (PDF). Southeast Asia. 14: 14–22.
- ^ Pustaka, Dewan Bahasa dan (1991). Kamus Tutong-Melayu, Melayu-Tutong. Bandar Seri Begawan: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Brunei.
Resources
[edit]- Haji Ramlee Tunggal (2005). Struktur Bahasa Tutong [Tutong Language Structure] (in Malay). Bandar Seri Begawan: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Brunei.
- Noor Azam Haji-Othman (2005). Linguistic Diversity in Negara Brunei Darussalam: An Ecological Perspective (PhD thesis). University of Leicester. hdl:2381/30897.