Abstract
Jedek is a previously unrecognized variety of the Northern Aslian subgroup of the Aslian branch of the Austroasiatic language family. It is spoken by about 280 individuals in the resettlement area of Sungai Rual, near Jeli in Kelantan state, Peninsular Malaysia. The community originally consisted of several bands of foragers along the middle reaches of the Pergau river. Jedek’s distinct status first became known during a linguistic survey carried out in the DOBES project Tongues of the Semang (2005–2011). This article describes the process leading up to its discovery and provides an overview of its typological characteristics.
Acknowledgements
We wish to express our gratitude first and foremost to the community at Sungai Rual. We also wish to acknowledge the Economic Planning Unit, Putrajaya; the Department of Orang Asli Development, Kuala Lumpur; Prof. Dr. Kamila Ghazali, University of Malaya; and Prof. Dr. Rogayah A. Razak, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. We are grateful to Geoffrey Benjamin, Marianne Gullberg, Nicole Kruspe, Asifa Majid, Ewelina Wnuk, and an anonymous reviewer for their insightful comments on earlier drafts of this article, and to Jens Larsson for preparing the images. Joanne Yager’s research was supported by the Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology at Lund University, and her field-based data collection was carried out with support from the Lars Hierta Memorial Foundation, The Birgit Rausing Language Programme, Fil. Dr. Uno Otterstedt Foundation, and The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. Niclas Burenhult’s research was supported by a Volkswagen Foundation DOBES grant and a Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation Jubilee Initiative Grant NHS14-1665:1.
Abbreviations
1/2/3=1st/2nd/3rd person
- beck
beckoning particle
- caus
causative
- clf
classifier
- coll
collective plural
- curse
cursing word
- DEI
deictic
- DET
determiner
- distr
distributive
- du
dual
- emph
emphatic particle
- excl
exclusive
- contr
contrast-marking preposition
- goal
goal-marking preposition
- imp
imperative
- incl
inclusive
- instr
instrument-marking
- inv
invitational particle
- ipfv
imperfective
- irr
irrealis
- iter
iterative
- loc
location-marking preposition
- N
noun
- neg
negator
- nmz
nominalizer
- NOM MOD
nominal modifier
- obj
object-marking preposition
- pl
plural
- PRO
pronominal
- prog
progressive
- prop
property
- pstdist
distant past
- pstprox
recent past
- q
question proclitic
- QNT
quantifier
- rel
relative
- rt
relational tense
- sg
singular
- source
source-marking preposition
- sub
subject-marking preposition
- unit
unitization
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