Mainstream Kenyah language

Kenyah
Lepo’
Bakung
Native to	Indonesia, Malaysia
Region	Borneo
Ethnicity	Kenyah
Native speakers	50,000 (2007–2013)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian North Bornean North Sarawakan Kenyah Kenyah
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xkl
Glottolog	main1275

Mainstream Kenyah, also known as Usun Apau and Bakung, is a Kenyah dialect cluster of North Kalimantan, Indonesia, and Sarawak, Malaysia. Dialects fall into four clusters:

• Lepo’ Tau, Lepo’ Bem, Uma’ Jalan, Uma’ Tukung^[2]
• Lepo’ Ke, Lepo’ Kuda
• Lepo’ Maut, Lepo’ Ndang, Badeng (Madang)^[3]
• Bakung, Lepo’ Tepu’ (Lepo Teppu’).

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t̪		t͡ʃ	k	ʔ
	voiced	b		d	d͡ʒ	g
Fricative				s
Nasal		m		n	ɲ	ŋ
Trill				r
Approximant		w		l	j

• Sounds /p, t̪/ can also occur as geminated [pː,  t̪ː] or as unreleased in word-final [p̚, t̪̚].

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	ɛ	ə	ɔ
Open		a

• /i/ can also occur as lax [ɪ].
• Sounds /a, u/ can also be heard as long [aː, uː].^[4]

References

1. Kenyah at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. also Lepo Jengan, Lepo Aga, Uma Ake, Lepo Ga, Lepo La’ang, Sambup, and Likan
3. also Lepo Jamok
4. Asih, Yuni Utami (2017). Inventory of Kenyah Lepo Tau Segmental Sounds.

External links

• Kaipuleohone's archive of Robert Blust's work includes notes on Kenyah language