The approximants ‘y’ and ‘w’ are also found in the onset of major syllables in other words, so these phonological changes and resyllabification do not introduce any new phonemes.
3.1.10 Deviations from basic inventory: other vowel differences
The Telom River dialects previously mentioned Renglas, Lanai, and Serau have markedly different vowel qualities for certain vowels, as compared with the rest of the Semai dialects. Where most dialects
exhibit the long close central vowel ɨɨ, in a good number of these words, the vowel is rounded to ʉʉ in Lanai and Serau. In Renglas this vowel is rounded and backed to oo in these same words.
Furthermore, the segment that is commonly oo in most other Semai dialects occurs unrounded and more central in these three dialects, as əə. The following examples illustrate these shifts.
English Malay
Most dialects Lanai, Serau
Renglas
‘house’ ‘rumah’
dɨɨk dʉʉk
dook ‘betel nut’ ‘pinang’
bɨ.lɨɨk bɨ.lʉʉk
bɨ.look ‘rat’
‘tikus’ pə.rook
pə.rəək pə.rəək
‘wind’ n ‘angin’ pooy
pəəy pəəy
Finally, it should be noted that many of the dialects showed a reduction of vowel length for long vowels before final laryngeals h and ʔ. However, the data is not totally consistent in showing this,
and there was often difficulty in hearing the distinction in vowel length. Furthermore, some dialects seem to show this phonological change more consistently than others. These changes were also identified
by Diffloth 1977.
3.2 Shared word families
This section examines those dialects which are linked through shared word families. A word family in the current study is a word form of apparently common origin that is shared by a set of dialects. In the
example below, the form bɑyɑk is shared by the dialects represented by the designations H, V, and W, and represents a word family. The semantic item ‘shadow’ elicited two word families, the word family
bɑyɑk and the word family wɔɔk. For the current analysis, the greater number of word families shared uniquely by a set of dialects, the more those dialects are deemed related.
Consider the following three items from the wordlist, demonstrating word families that indicate distinct groupings of the various dialects.
15
‘shadow’ wɔɔk B,C,E,F,G,J,K,L,M,N,O,Q,R,S,T,U,X,Y,Z,AA,BB,CC,DD,EE
bɑyɑk H,V,W ‘black’
bəlʔɪk B
bəlʔɑk C,E,L,M,N,Q,R,S,T,X,BB,CC,DD,EE bɨlʔɛk
J,K
15
The capital letter codes are defined as following: B– Gopeng; C– Rasau; E– Bertang; F– Kuala Kenip; G– Tangkai Cermin; H– Cluny; J– Tapah; L– Batu 17; M– Kampar; N– Bidor; O– Bota; Q– Sungkai; R– Pos Buntu; S– Betau; T–
Simoi Baru; U– Cherong; V– Chinggung; W– Sungai Bil; X– Sungai Ruil; Y– Serau; Z– Lanai; AA– Renglas; BB– Cenan Cerah; CC– Relong; DD– Terisu; EE– Pagar.
ɾɨŋɑh F,T,Y,Z,AA
rɨŋyɛh G rɨŋɛh
O cəɾɛɛt
U hitɑp
H,V,W ‘some’
ɡɛʔ B,G,J,K,L,M,O,Q,T,X,AA,BB,CC,DD,EE
ɡɛɛʔ C,E,N,U
ɡuʔɡɛʔ R,S,Y,Z ɡɛn
H,V,W In these cases, the southern dialects H, V, and W share a lexical innovation that is distinct from the
other dialects. Indeed, there are a total of thirteen items in the wordlist for which the dialects H, V, and W have a shared word that is distinct from the rest of the dialects. Another nine items have a common
word for the dialects H, V, and W, but it so happens that one or two other dialects also have this word. Furthermore, the dialects V and W share a lexical innovation unique to only these two dialects for an
additional twenty-three wordlist items. This evidence argues strongly for dialects V and W to be grouped together, with dialect H being closely related as well.
Another pair of dialects that share a lexical innovation is from the northwest area: G Tangkai Cermin and O Bota. This pair shares sixteen words that are distinct from the other dialects, plus
another nine words that are found in this pair and at most two other dialects. Beyond the two dialect clusters just discussed, the picture is less clear, mostly because lexical
innovations tend not to be unique for the other dialects. For example, while examination of the various word families reveals that two of the eastern dialects F and S very often share the same word, that
word is almost always also found in a variety of other dialects, but never consistently the same set of dialects.
3.3 Basic lexical comparison
