Temuan language

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Temuan
Temuan, Benua, bual Mutan, Niap
Spoken in	Malaysia
Region	central and southern Peninsular Malaysia
Total speakers	9,312 (1981 Wurm and Hattori)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian (MP) Nuclear MP Malayic Malayan Aboriginal Malay Temuan
Writing system	no official script, Latin alphabet is used
Language codes
ISO 639-1	None
ISO 639-2	–
ISO 639-3	tmw
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The Temuan language (Temuan, Benua, bual Mutan, Niap, Malay: bahasa Temuan) is an Austronesian language spoken by the Temuan tribe, one of the indigenous ethnic groups of Peninsular Malaysia in the states of Selangor, Pahang, Johor, and Negeri Sembilan. It has a certain degree of mutual intelligibility with the Malay language.

The Temuan has their own version of Adam and Eve call Mamak Bungsuk ( like Adam ) and Inak Bungsuk ( Eve ). This two person is the Temuan version of Adam and Eve and the beginning and the birth of humanity in Temuan legend.

The Temuan believe they were placed on the earth by Muyang (God) to be guardians of the rain forest and that if they fail in their sacred duty, the whole world will turn upside down and humanity will perish. Each river, hill, stream, rock, tree and shrub is animated by a guardian spirit. Rivers are guarded by dragons (naga) and snakes (ular) which often cause mayhem if their homes are desecrated.

The Temuan’s culture reflects their belief in these nature spirits. Their animism takes the form of taboos, herbal remedies, ritual ceremonies and magic. They have dukun (healers) and a village bomoh (shaman) who, when in a trance state, communicates with the nature spirits. It is the shaman who leads the tribe in the annual sawai - an ancient earth healing ritual to honour their ancestors and appease the guardian spirits.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Temuan Web Page Orang Asli Temuan Webpage