The Tamanic languages are a small group of languages of Kapuas Hulu Regency, West Kalimantan spoken by the respective subgroups of Dayaks: Embaloh (incl. Kalis) and Taman (Taman Dayak).
The Tamanic languages are not closely related to other languages on Borneo. Instead, they belong to the South Sulawesi languages, most probably in one branch together with Buginese. It is still unclear how did the languages exactly arrive into their present homelands at the deep interiors of West Kalimantan.K. A. Adelaar. 1994. The classification of the Tamanic languages. In Tom Dutton and Darrell T. Tryon (eds.), Language contact and change in the Austronesian world, 1-42. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.K. Alexander Adelaar and Nikolaus Himmelmann. 2005. The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar. London: Routledge.
Sound changes Here is a list of sound changes from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian into various Tamanic languages.
Consonants Phonemic mergers: *D merges into d. *j merges into s, but merges into d following *n. *h, *q merge into ∅, however, in word-final positions their outcomes still differ. *z merges into d. Lenition in intervocalic positions: *-b- > -w- (sometimes deletes). *-d- > -r- (original *D and *z are also affected). *-ŋ-, *-k- > -∅- in Taman (*takut > ataut). When geminated or following a nasal consonant, the original phonemes remain. *l is assimilated to r before r in the same or following syllable (*ulaR > urar "snake"). In Taman, *r is further dissimilated to n after *r (urar : uran). Development of the final glottal stop (-ʔ) of mostly unexplained origin. *-q > -ʔ, but *-h > *-∅ Other occurrences are hypothesized from an original Proto-Malayo-Polynesian phoneme -ʔ.
Vowels *aya, aV > *a: (qi Daya > Embaloh ira:) In Taman, it was sometimes reflected as ɛ: (Malay lain > lɛ:n). *u was dissimilated to i before *u in the following syllable (*tumpul > timpul "blunt"). *ay, *ey, and *aw, as well as *ew, were monophthongized into e and o, respectively. *-iq and *-uq became -e and -o respectively.
West Kalimantan groups
Some Tamanic-speaking Dayak ethnic subgroups and their respective languages in West Kalimantan province, Indonesia:Bamba, John (ed.) (2008). Mozaik Dayak keberagaman subsuku dan bahasa Dayak di Kalimantan Barat. Pontianak: Institut Dayakologi. .Istiyani, Chatarina Pancer (2008). Memahami peta keberagaman subsuku dan bahasa Dayak di Kalimantan Barat. Institut Dayakologi.
{| class="wikitable" ! Group !! Language !! Regency |- | Kalis || Kalis || Kapuas Hulu |- | Lau' || Lau' || Kapuas Hulu |- | Tamambaloh || Tamambaloh || Kapuas Hulu |- | Taman || Taman || Kapuas Hulu
Exclusive innovation vocabulary in the South Sulawesi language family or Buginese There are many lexical similarities with the languages of South Sulawesi, for example: +Proto-Malayo- PolynesianProto-South- SulawesiBugineseEmbalohTamannose*qijuŋ*illoŋiŋəʔiŋariŋirself*diʀi*kal-aw-ealekale?outside*uda*saliwAnsaliwəŋsaluansaluantooth*ipən*isiisiisiisisleep*tuDuʀ*tindotinrotindoʔtindoʔwake up*baŋun*səddiŋsəddiŋasadiŋsadiŋabove; top*babaw*baboasəʔaset?forget*lupa-liluliluʔliluʔworld -*linolinolino?orphan - -biubiu?rainbow--tarauʔtataraʔueʔ?
References