Page Type: languageBisaya, Sabah | Ethnologue

BSY ISO 639-3

Bisaya, Sabah

A language of Malaysia

ISO 639
bsy
Alternate Names
Basaya, Besaya, Bisaia, Bisayah, Jilama Bawang, Jilama Sungai
Population
No monolinguals (2015 S.A. Luken). Ethnic population: 70,000 (2015 Sabah Bisaya Cultural Association).
Location:
Sabah: Beaufort and Kuala Penyu districts, North Brunei Bay coast area, mainly along Padas and Klias rivers, south of Weston; Sarawak: Batu Danau, Limbang.
Language Status
6b (Threatened).
Classification
Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, North Borneo, Sabahan, Dusunic, Bisaya-Lotud
Dialects
Klias Bisaya, Kuala Penyu Bisaya, Padas Bisaya, Beaufort Bisaya, Limbang Bisaya. 70% intelligibility of Bisaya Kuala Penyu with Tatana [txx], 50% intelligibility of other Sabah Bisaya dialects with Tatana [txx]. Lexical similarity: 53% with Brunei Bisaya (Sarawak dialect) [bsb], 52% with Brunei Bisaya [bsb] (Brunei dialect) (2010 Siti Aidah).
Language Use
Mixed use: Home, Friends, Religion, Work, Education. Some young people, all adults. Positive attitudes. All also use Sabah Malay [msi]. Many also use Brunei [kxd]. Also use Tatana [txx]. Used as L2 by Klias River Kadazan [kqt], Papar [dpp], Tatana [txx].
Language Development
Literacy rate in L1: 40%. Literacy rate in L2: 70% in Standard Malay [zsm]. Videos. Bible portions: 1938. Agency: Sabah Bisaya Cultural Association.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Bisaya, Sabah
Writing
Latin script [Latn].
Other Comments
Muslim.

Also Spoken in

Map

Location: Sabah: Beaufort and Kuala Penyu districts, North Brunei Bay coast area, mainly along Padas and Klias rivers, south of Weston; Sarawak: Batu Danau, Limbang.