Sa’ban is one of the remoter languages of Borneo, on the Sarawak–Kalimantan border. The language is known as hmeu Sa'ban in the Sa'ban language.[2]
Sa’ban | |
---|---|
Region | Sarawak (Malaysia) |
Native speakers | 2,000 (2000)[1] |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | snv |
Glottolog | saba1265 |
Sa'ban is a member of the Apo Duat subgroup of languages, which also includes Kelabit, Lun Bawang/Lundayeh and Tring.[3] Collectively, they belong to the North Sarawak subgroup of the Austronesian family.[4] Today, the Sa'ban people live in Long Peluan, Long Banga' and Long Balong in Sarawak, Malaysia. There are also Sa'ban groups in Kalimantan, Indonesia.[2]
The Sa'ban language has several sounds that are rare among the world's languages. These include voiceless nasal and liquid consonants[2] and a distinction between long and short vowels as well as long and short consonants. Some examples of words with voiceless nasals and liquids are given in the table below. They have a stative reading in contrast to long consonants:[2]
Voiceless Continuant (Stative) | Long Consonant (Transitive) | |
---|---|---|
⟨ɹ̥⟩ | /hraək/ [ɹ̥ɹa:k] 'torn' | /rraək/ [ɹa:k] 'to tear' |
⟨ɬ⟩ | /hləu/ [ɬləu] 'correct' | /lləu/ [ləu] 'to steer' |
⟨n̥⟩ | /hnau/ [n̥nʌu] 'opinion' | /nnau/ [nʌu] 'to think' |
Kaipuleohone has archived written materials as well as audio recordings (RB1-001, RB1-003-A)
PHOIBLE Online phonemic inventories for Sa'ban