Jakun language
| Jakun | |
|---|---|
| Orang Hulu | |
| Native to | Malaysia |
| Region | Johor, Pahang |
| Ethnicity | 25,000 (2008)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Unwritten | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | jak |
| Glottolog | jaku1244 |
| ELP | Jakun |
Jakun is a Malayic language spoken in Malaysia. Specifically it is spoken on the east coast and inland of Peninsular Malaysia, around the Pairang River, from Pekan in Pahang to Sri Gading, east to Benut, northwest to middle Muar River area around the districts of Segamat, Muar and Tangkak in Johor.[2]
The language is native to the Jakun tribe belonging to the Proto-Malay branch of the indigenous natives of Malaysia, the Orang Asli.[3]
Dialects
[edit]The Jakun language can, at the very least, be divided into two dialects: the Western Johor dialect, and the Eastern Johor dialect.
They differ in mainly two aspects, pronunciation and vocabulary.[4] In terms of pronunciation, the two dialects differ in that instances of final [-aC] in the Western Johor dialect correspond to [-ɔC] in the Eastern Johor dialect. For example, compare Western Johor [a.naʔ] 'child' and [ta.ŋan] 'hand' to Eastern Johor [a.nɔʔ] and [ta.ŋɔn].[5] Dialectal differences in the lexicon can be seen in the vocabulary section below.
A possible distinct Pahang dialect is reported to exist, although more research is required to verify this claim.[6]
Phonology
[edit]Vowels
[edit]The vowel inventory of Jakun consists of eight monophthongs, /a, i, e, ɛ, u, o, ɔ, ə/, and three diphthongs, /aw, aj, oj/.[7]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Close-mid | e | ə | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
| Coda | /j/ | /w/ |
|---|---|---|
| /a/ | /aj/ | /aw/ |
| /o/ | /oj/ |
Consonants
[edit]The consonant inventory of Jakun consists of 19 consonants as shown in the table below.[8]
| 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 | h | ||||
| Rhotic | r | |||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||
Comparison with Proto-Malayic
[edit]Jakun displays both innovations and retentions when compared to Proto-Malayic, the reconstructed ancestor language of all Malayic languages. Among its innovations is the loss of Proto-Malayic final *-r in [i.ku] 'tail' and [ti.du] 'sleep' (compare Proto-Malayic *ikur and *tidur). Among its retentions, on the other hand, is its lack of lowering of penultimate *i- in certain words such as [ni.niʔ] 'grandmother' and [li.ba] 'wide' (compare its Standard Malay cognates, nenek and lebar).[9] Jakun also shows a more conservative feature in its retention of Proto-Malayic *h in various positions such as in [ha.jam] 'chicken' and [kə.tu.haʔ] 'leader' (compare Standard Malay ayam and ketua).[10]
Vocabulary
[edit]Jakun has a lexical similarity of 92% with Standard Malay.[11] That notwithstanding, Jakun has many unique words with no known cognates in Malay. Below is a non-exhaustive list of such words in the dialects of Jakun as spoken in Johor, in IPA transcription, along with their Standard Malay counterparts for comparison.[12]
| Western Johor Jakun | Eastern Johor Jakun | Standard Malay | English meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tunuʔ | baka | bakar | 'to burn' |
| 2 | təkɛŋ | bənt͡ʃiʔ | benci | 'to hate' |
| 3 | səɲɔp | ləsɔʔ | senyap | 'silent' |
| 4 | halaw | iŋa | halau | 'to get rid of' |
| 5 | usɛl | məsɛl | rindu | 'to miss' (to long for) |
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ↑ Jakun language at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ↑ Mohamad Rozi Kasim 2023, p. 141.
- ↑ Shazleeza Izlyn Yusaimi 2025, p. 4.
- ↑ Mohamad Rozi Kasim 2023, p. 151.
- ↑ Mohamad Rozi Kasim 2023, p. 161.
- ↑ Mohamad Rozi Kasim 2023, pp. 151–154.
- ↑ Mohamad Rozi Kasim 2023, pp. 154–155.
- ↑ Mohamad Rozi Kasim 2023, p. 155.
- ↑ Mohamad Rozi Kasim 2023, pp. 157–159.
- ↑ Mohamad Rozi Kasim 2020, pp. 139–142.
- ↑ Asmah Haji Omar & Samsur Rijal Yahaya 2018.
- ↑ Mohamad Rozi Kasim 2023, p. 160.
Bibliography
[edit]- Mohamad Rozi Kasim (30 June 2023). "Analisis Perbandingan Dua Ragam Dialek Jakun di Johor" [Comparative Analysis of Two Different Jakun Dialects in Johor]. MANU Jurnal Pusat Penataran Ilmu Dan Bahasa (PPIB) (in Malay). 34 (1): 139–166. doi:10.51200/manu.v34i1.4809. Archived from the original on 19 January 2024.
- Asmah Haji Omar; Samsur Rijal Yahaya (25 March 2018). "Malayic aborigines of Malaysia: A study in subgrouping" (PDF). Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal. 5 (3): 452–465. Archived from the original on 28 September 2026.
- Mohamad Rozi Kasim (5 June 2020). "Kepentingan Variasi Fonologi Kata Pinjaman Bahasa Melayu yang Dituturkan oleh Orang Asli Jakun kepada Kajian Linguistik Melayu: Analisis Fonologi Atur Rumus" [The Importance of Phonological Variation in Malay Loanwords Spoken by Indigenous Jakun People to Malay Linguistics: An Analysis of Phonological Rule Ordering] (PDF). Jurnal Bahasa (in Malay). 34 (1): 131–150. ISSN 1511-9084. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 September 2026.
- Shazleeza Izlyn Yusaimi (2025). "Cultural Heritage of the Indigenous People of Jakun" (blog). Voices of the Rainforest: 1–7.
External links
[edit]- http://projekt.ht.lu.se/rwaai RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
- http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0004-1640-2@view Jakun in RWAAI Digital Archive
