Jahai language

Jahai (Jehai) is an aboriginal Mon–Khmer language spoken by the Jahai people living in the montane rainforests of northern Peninsular Malaysia and southernmost Thailand. It is the largest Northern Aslian language. Though spoken by only a little more than 1,000 people, Jahai does not appear to be in immediate danger of extinction due to the prevalence of Jahai parents passing on the language to their children as their mother tongue.

Jahai has a unique vocabulary for describing odors.

Phonology Vowels +Jahai vowelsFrontCentralBackClose Close-midOpen-mid Open

Consonants +Jahai consonantsBilabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottalNasalPlosivevoicelessvoicedFricativeLateralRhotic~Approximant

Syllable structure On the surface level, the maximal syllable in Jahai is represented as CV(C). The onset consonant is obligatorily required.

Stress and tone The position of stress always falls on the last syllable. Burenhult states there is no tonal distinction in Jahai language.

Olfactory categories Odor terms in Jahai are based on abstract qualities rather than specific sources (which is more common cross-linguistically, particularly in European languages). +Odor termsOdor termsApproximate translationExamples of sourcesNotes'to smell edible, tasty'cooked food, sweets'to smell roasted'roasted food'to be fragrant'various flowers, perfumes, soapMalay loan; original Malay meaning 'fragrant''to be fragrant'various flowers, perfumes, binturong'to stink'feces, rotten meat, prawn paste'to be musty'old dwellings, mushrooms, stale food'to have a stinging smell'petrol, smoke, bat droppings'to have a smell of human urine'human urine, village ground'to have a urine-like smell'urineMalay loan; original Malay meaning 'foul odor, stench', 'to have a blood/fish/meat-like smell'blood, raw fish, raw meat'to have a bloody smell which attracts tigers'crushed head lice, squirrel blood

Jahai language

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