The Biatah language is spoken in the Malaysian state of Sarawak and the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan. It belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family.

Phonology

Consonants

LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
Plosive/ Affricatevoicelesspt(t͡ʃ)kʔ
voicedbdd͡ʒg
Fricativesh
Nasalmnɲŋ
Trillr
Approximantw(l)j
  • [t͡ʃ] and [l] are heard in other dialects.

Vowels

FrontCentralBack
Closeiɨu
Mideəo
Openaɔ
  • /i,u,e,o/ can have allophones of [ɪ,ʊ,ɛ,ɔ].
  • Topping, Donald M. A Dialect Survey of the Land Dayaks of Sarawak, Language and Oral Traditions in Borneo. 1993. Selected Papers from the First Extraordinary Conference of The Borneo Research Council, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, August 4–9, 1990, pp. 247–274