Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 28, 2026

Penan language

Penan, also known as Punan-Nibong, is a language complex spoken by the Penan people of Borneo. They are related to the Kenyah languages. Glottolog shows Western Penan as closer to Sebop than it is to Eastern Penan.

Last revised
Jul 28, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
100 w
Citations
2
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Nibong
Penan
Native toMalaysia, Brunei
RegionSarawak, Borneo
EthnicityPenan people
Native speakers
ca. 13,000 (2007–2011)1
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
pez – Eastern Penan
pne – Western Penan
Glottologeast2485  Eastern
west2563  Western
ELPEastern Penan

Penan, also known as Punan-Nibong, is a language complex spoken by the Penan people of Borneo. They are related to the Kenyah languages. Glottolog shows Western Penan as closer to Sebop than it is to Eastern Penan.2

References

References

  1. Eastern Penan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Western Penan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forke, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2020). "Western Penan". Glottolog 4.3.
External links