Part Three: A Brief Background on the KadazanDusun Language

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)