DigitalResources Electronic Survey Report 2012-011
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Melanau and the Languages of Central Sarawak
Calvin R. Rensch
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6 We may also get an idea about the relative levels of comprehension if we add the cognate percentages of each dialect with all the others. For example, when we add the percentages of all dialects with Igan, we find that Igan dialect has a relatively high total of 759. By contrast, Kanowit has a total of only 572, i.e., a much lower percentage of cognates overall. This suggests that while Igan is likely to be relatively well understood by the other Melanau dialects, Kanowit is likely to be less well understood by the others. The totals of cognate percentages for each dialect are given below: One might object that the Core Melanau dialects are favored in this type of calculation since there are six of them and they have relatively high cognate percentages with others of that group, whereas the others have only one other dialect with a high cognate percentage or in the case of Balingian, no other.
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20 In this section we will begin the exploration of relationships between Melanau and Bintulu and other languages of Central Sarawak. In this section we compare Melanau and Bintulu on the one hand with the Kajang and Penan languages on the other. In section 5 we compare these four language groupings with still other languages of Central Sarawak. Ultimately, we will conclude (1) that Melanau, Bintulu, and the Kajang and Penan languages do have significant features in common that unite them as a grouping, and (2) that Sihan, Bukat, Bukitan, Punan Busang, Punan Batu ,and Punan Bah form an outer cluster of languages that are related to the first four, but not as closely.
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22 Also, *piliq ‘choose’ (164), *titiq ‘breast’ (94).
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39 (Urquhart) nava, Ukit iva; (Urquhart) lojau; l lupak; Bah nunuop ‘sea’ (8)
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43 The development of the glottal stop in the various languages will not be used as an indicator of language grouping for a combination of two reasons: (1) the glottal stop seems to have been preserved in general in both positions in all groups, and (2) the notation used in recording the data for some of the languages makes it difficult to be certain of the presence or absence of the glottal stop.
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