Semelai language

Semelai is an Austroasiatic language spoken in the Malay Peninsula by Semelai people. It belongs to the Southern branch of the Aslian language subgrouping. The Semelai people reside predominantly around the Bera, Serting and associated river systems in the states of Pahang, Negeri Sembilan and Johor.

Semelai has 32 consonants and 20 vowels.

• Stops /p t c k/ are heard as [p̚ t̚ c̚ k̚] word-final position.
• Palatal sounds /c ɟ/ are slightly affricated as [cᶝ ɟᶽ] when in word-initial position.
• /s/ may occur as [s] or [ɕ] within free variation.
• Nasals /m n ɲ ŋ/ can occur as prestopped [ᵇm ᵈn ᶡɲ ᶢŋ] when in word-final position.
• /r/ can be heard as [ɾ] when in word-final position. When preceded by a nasal /n/ it is heard as [ᵈr].
• /w j/ are heard as off-glides [ ʷ,  ʲ] when in word-final position. After nasal vowels, they are then heard as nasalized [ ʷ̃, ʲ̃].

Vowels are also distinguished with nasal counterparts:

• /ɒ/ is phonetically noted as [ɒ̙].
• /i/ can be heard as [ɪ] in closed syllables
• /ə/ can be heard as [ʌ] in stressed word-final syllables

• http://projekt.ht.lu.se/rwaai RWAAI (Repository and Workspace for Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage)
• http://hdl.handle.net/10050/00-0000-0000-0003-66E3-8@view Semelai in RWAAI Digital Archive