Comparative Berawan Glossary / Glosari Komparatif Bahasa Berawan

Comparative Berawan Glossary / Glosari Komparatif Bahasa Berawan is comprised of about 4,800 lexical items, or roughly 1,200 words for each of the four Berawan lects, with each word presented in a linguistically sound and community approved unified orthography. The glossary focusses on documenting endangered indigenous vocabulary, particularly on flora and fauna, animals and birds found in the traditional Berawan settlement area, and on the slowly waning traditional Berawan lifestyle. Its vocabulary is presented in meaningful semantic categories with glosses in English and Malay. The book also includes valuable information about the Berawan language history, its sound system, its current settlements and unique unified orthography, both in English and Malay.

There are twelve Berawan settlements nowadays, five of them on the Tutoh river and seven on the Tinjar. Both the Tutoh and the Tinjar are major tributaries of the Baram. The Long Terwawan group has two settlements, which is Long Terawan on the Tutoh river and Kampung Malinau at the edge of Mulu National Park on the Malinau river, a tributary of the Tutoh. Three villages belong to the Batu Belah group, which are Long Ukok, Long Patan and Bitoh Kala Kiri Long Pahlo, all on the Tutoh. The Long Teru group has two settlements, Long Teru and Kampung Loagan Bunut. Long Teru is located on the Tinjar river whereas Kampung Loagan Bunut—also called Rumah Meran—is located at the Loagan Bunut lake. The Long Jegan group is spread out among five villages on the Tinjar, which are Long Jegan, Long Tabing, Long Takong, Long Teran Batu and Long Tuyut.

There are four Berawan language varieties, which are Batu Belah (BB), Long Teru (LTu), Long Jegan (LJg) and Long Terawan (LTn). The Batu Belah and Long Teru varieties are closely related to each other and can therefore be considered two varieties of the same language. Their next linguistic relative is Long Jegan Berawan, followed by Long Terawan Berawan. Studies show the historical development of the Berawan language varieties from Proto-Berawan, the assumed ancestral parent language, to the current Berawan varieties. The Berawan language varieties are considered endangered and have been attributed the status 6b to 8a (threatened to moribund) in the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS). In the Ethnologue, the Berawan language varieties are listed as follows: Batu Belah and Long Teru Berawan as Berawan, Central (ISO 639-3 zbc), Long Terawan as Berawan, West (ISO 639-3 zbw) and Long Jegan as Berawan, East (ISO 639-3 zbe) in accordance with the geographical labels used by Robert A. Blust in his PhD dissertation.