Language contact in Borneo. The influence of Indonesian on Kenyah and Punan of Kalimantan

This paper deals with borrowing and code switching and discusses the impact of Indonesian on three local languages spoken in Indonesian Borneo, Kenyah Òma Lóngh, Kenyah Lebu’ Kulit, and Punan Tuvu’. A distinction is made between old loanwords, which became adjusted to the phonological structures of the native languages, and more recent loanwords, which are often at odds with these structures. In the languages under investigation, the pattern of borrowing is similar and mostly affects the lexicon, leaving the morphology almost untouched. It affects the domains of education, government, and religion, of classes like numerals and onomastics, and of conjunctions and connectives. The extent of borrowing depends on the topic of conversation and the use of words for items, animals, and activities not native to the communities. The examples taken from naturalistic and elicitation data show the common tendency of multilingual societies like the ones analyzed in this study to switch from the local minority language to the more prestigious and dominant Indonesian.