Kutainese language explained

Kutai
Region:West Kutai, Kutai Kartanegara, and East Kutai (East Kalimantan)
States:Indonesia
Ethnicity:Kutai
Date:1981
Ref:e18
Familycolor:Austronesian
Fam2:Malayo-Polynesian
Fam3:Greater North Borneo
Fam4:Malayic
Lc1:mqg
Ld1:Kota Bangun
Lc2:vkt
Ld2:Tenggarong
Dialects:Kota Bangun, Tenggarong, Ancalong
Glotto:kota1275
Glottoname:Kota Bangun
Glottorefname:Kota Bangun Kutai Malay
Glotto2:teng1267
Glottoname2:Tenggarong
Glottorefname2:Tenggarong Kutai

Kutai is a Malayic language spoken by 300,000 to 500,000 people. It is the native language of the Kutai people (Kutai: Urang Kutai), the indigenous ethnic group which lives along the Mahakam River in Borneo, especially in North Kalimantan, Indonesia. They are the principal population in the regencies of West Kutai, Kutai Kartanegara, and East Kutai within North Kalimantan province.

Kutai is part of the local Bornean Malayic languages and is closely related to but distinct from the Banjar language in South Kalimantan, Berau, also spoken in North Kalimantan and to some extent Brunei-Kedayan Malay as well. Kutai forms a dialect continuum between the two varieties and all three share similar phonology and vocabulary with each other.

Literature

Kutai for most of its history is mainly a spoken language and is mostly used as a form of poetry (pantun). During the period of the Kutai Kartanegara Sultanate, most literature was written in Standard Malay in Jawi script instead of Kutai Malay.

Dialects

Kutai, as with many Malay varieties on the island, is a dialect continuum. A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a spread of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighbouring varieties differ only slightly, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varieties are not mutually intelligible. There are three principal dialects of Kutai Malay language; all three have little mutual intelligibility with each other due to the geographical proximity of these dialects. The three main dialects are Tenggarong, Kota Bangun, and Ancalong Estuary.