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Punan Merap language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Merap
Native toIndonesia
RegionBorneo
EthnicityMerap
Native speakers
(200 cited 1981)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3puc
Glottologmera1243
ELPPunan Merap

Merap (Mbraa) is an Austronesian language of Borneo in Indonesia. Soriente (2015) classifies Mbraa (also known as Merap) as a Kayan–Murik (Modang-Bahau) language.

Phonology

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Merap phonology has departed significantly from Proto-Malayo Polynesian. Merap stress is word-final, and word shape is sesquisyllabic (a minor penultimate syllable followed by a stressed full ultima). The number of vowel contrasts has increased significantly as well. Where Proto-Malayo-Polynesian had four vowels (*i, *u, *a, and schwa) Merap has well over twenty contrasts, including diphthongs, triphthongs, and nasality distinctions. [2]

References

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Notes
  1. ^ Merap at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Smith, Alexander. "Merap Historical Phonology" (PDF).
Sources
  • Soriente, Antonia. 2015. Mbraa: A Modang-Bahau language? Presentation given at 13-ICAL, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.