Semang

The Semang are a Negrito ethnic group of the Malay Peninsula. They are found in Perak, Kedah and Pahang of Malaysia. During the colonial British administration, Orang Asli living in the northern Malay Peninsula were classified as Sakai. Lowland Semang tribes are also known as Sakai, although this term is considered to be derogatory by the Semang people. They have been recorded to have lived here since before the 3rd century. They are ethnologically described as nomadic hunter-gatherers. See also Bajaus and Aetas.

Semang Ethnic Groups

Orang Asli ethnic groups that are classified as "Semang" by the Malaysian government.

Culture

The Semangs live in caves or leaf-shelters that form between branches. A loincloth for the men, made of tree bark hammered out with a wooden mallet from the bark of the terap, a species of wild bread-fruit tree, and a short skirt of the same for the women, is the only dress worn; some go naked.

Jahaic languages

The Jahaic languages (also called Semang and North Aslian) are a group of Aslian languages spoken by about 5,000 people in inland areas of Peninsular Malaysia, with a few pockets in southern Thailand. The most distinctive language in the group is Chewong, which is spoken south of Semai. The other languages apart from Tonga can be split into two divisions:

(unclassified) Tonga (Mos, Maniq)

The name Maniq (Məniʔ, Maniʔ) can refer to either Kensiu or Tonga, both of which also go by the name of Mos.

Some Aslian languages are already extinct, such as Wila' (also called Bila' or Lowland Semang), which was recorded having been spoken on the Province Wellesley coast opposite Penang in the early 19th century. Another extinct language is Ple-Temer, which was previously spoken near Gerik in northern Perak (Benjamin 2011).