Kelabit language

Kelabit is a language from Borneo, near the border of Sarawak and North Kalimantan. It is spoken by the Kelabit people, a small group living in the highlands. Even though they live far from many others, they have kept their language alive. It is important to them and helps them stay connected to their past and traditions.

Phonology

Kelabit has special sounds that make it unique. Its vowels are /ə, a, e, i, o, u/. Most consonants get longer when they come after the stressed vowel /ə/. Stress in words usually falls on the second-to-last syllable.

Kelabit is special because it has rare sounds called "voiced aspirates." These are sounds made with a puff of air. This feature is not common in many other languages. These sounds only appear between vowels and might have come from longer consonant sounds. They are about twice as long as other similar sounds and change in some words.

Experts think these aspirated voiced sounds are single units instead of two sounds together. Kelabit usually does not allow combinations of consonants in words, and how these sounds fit into syllables also supports this idea. However, not all Kelabit dialects or the nearby Lun Dayeh language share this exact feature.