Ohhh..where did I stopped
just now? I’m here to share my views about how I came about to learning the
KadazanDusun language. The Iban language is distantly related to the
KadazanDusun language itself and communication between any people from these
two tribes are normally conducted in Malay or English. The Sabahan Malay, a
variant of the standard Malay language is largely understood not only by the
KadazanDusun people themselves, but also by the other natives and foreigners
who come to work in Sabah. Their Peninsular friends could understand the
Sabahan accent far easier than or Sarawakian Malay which is a completely
different dialect which may took at least a year to be mastered.
Like the Iban language,
there are also other ‘Dusunic’ languages which can be found throughout Sabah and
in small areas bordering Sabah-Sarawak-Brunei.
 |
| The KadazanDusun belles of Land Below the Wind. Like other Borneo tribe ladies, they are always associated with fair and smooth complexion. (Picture Copyright is from web sources) |
The Bisayas (in Beaufort, Kuala
Penyu), Rungus(Kudat, Kota Marudu), Sungai (Kinabatangan) are considered as
close relatives to the Dusun language itself despite no mutual intelligibility
could exist between any of these languages. The standard variant of the
KadazanDusun language is the Bundu-Liwan language; which is widely used in
textbooks and also in formal means of communication such as news and public
speech. The Bundu-Liwan people mainly live in the “Heartland of Sabah” which is
Tamparuli, Ranau, Tambunan and Keningau. Other related tribes such as the Kiulu
Tamparuli, Tindal Kota Belud/Tenghilan, Lotud Tuaran, Tobilung Kota
Belud/Marudu, Kimaragang, Labuk Beluran, Kuijau and Gana Keningau and Tatana
Kuala Penyu (quite unintelligible) can
understand the standard Dusun language without much difficulty.
The Kadazans are more
concentrated in “coastal areas”, as they are traditionally designed by the
anthropologists (despite the fact that most of them just like the Dusuns, lived
far from the coastal area, some of them even live bordering the Dusun areas. In
fact there are Dusun villages in the vicinity of Penampang and Papar) in the
lowlands of Penampang and Papar unlike their Dusun counterparts that preferred
to live deep in the mountainous terrain. They are linguistically and culturally
similar with the other Dusunic tribes in Sabah. Like the Rungus, Tatana and
Bisaya, the Kadazans preferred their culture and language to be separated from
the rest of the Dusunic tribes.
I would
like to refer from the *Wikipedia on
the origins of the term “Kadazans”.
“The Kadazans are an ethnic group indigenous to the state of Sabah in Malaysia. They are found mainly
at Penampang on the west coast of Sabah, the surrounding locales, and various
locations in the interior. The Kadazan is the term being used referring to
Dusun Tangara which most of them lived in town area. The term "Kadazan"
first being used during Tun Fuad Stephens era”.
Regarding
the main differences between the Kadazans and Dusuns; the* Wikipedia further
explains:-
“Kadazans and Dusuns share the same language and culture
albeit with differences in dialect. Many consider their traditional
geographical influences as the major difference between the two ethnic groups.
Kadazans are mainly inhabitants of the flat valley deltas, conducive to paddy field farming, while Dusuns are traditionally inhabitants of the hilly and mountainous
regions
common to the interior of Sabah.”
*(Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadazan_people)
Part Three: The Sino-Kadazans and the Tale of Mount Kinabalu)
