An Introduction to Berawan Phonology

The Berawan live in the north of Sarawak in East Malaysia, along two main tributaries of the lower Baram river, the Tinjar and the Tutoh. The Berawan language is spoken by some 3-4000 people, and three or four dialects are recognized. This study describes the dialect spoken by the people of Long Terawan on the Tutoh river (see Figure 1). Like all the indigenous languages of Borneo, Berawan is an Austronesian language. The Berawan are sometimes described as Kenyah, and indeed, sometimes refer to themselves as Kenyah, but both Hudson (1978; 26) and Blust (1974,1992: 410; 1995: 123-4) have shown that the language belongs to a group of languages spoken in the lower Baram area, some of which, such as Lemeting or Lelak now appear to be extinct (Blust 1995: 123).