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Shells of the giant clam Tridacna can provide decade‐long records of past environmental conditions via their geochemical composition and structurally through growth banding. Counting the daily bands can give an accurate internal age model with high temporal resolution, but daily banding is not always visually retrievable, especially in fossil specimens. We show that daily geochemical cycles (e.g., Mg/Ca) are resolvable via highly spatially resolved laser‐ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA‐ICPMS; 3 × 33 μm laser slit) in our Miocene (∼10 Ma) specimen, even in areas where daily banding is not visually discernible. By applying wavelet transformation on the measured daily geochemical cycles, we quantify varying daily growth rates throughout the shell. These growth rates are thus used to build an internal age model independent of optical daily band countability. Such an age model can be used to convert the measured elemental ratios from a function of distance to a function of time, which helps evaluate paleoenvironmental proxy data, for example, regarding the timing of sub‐seasonal events. Furthermore, the quantification of daily growth rates across the shell facilitates the evaluation of (co)dependencies between growth rates and corresponding elemental compositions. Plain Language Summary Shells of giant clams exhibit growth bands, similar to tree rings, which form in both seasonal (visible by eye) and daily (resolvable by microscope) increments. However, the optical visibility of daily bands in fossil giant clam shells can be poor. Fortunately, growth bands are often accompanied by changes in the chemical composition of the shell. The incorporation of trace elements into the shell depends on environmental factors (like temperature and light) and biological controls, which are both characterized by cyclic daily variation. With our Python script Daydacna, we present a tool that enables daily resolution scale changes in growth rate to be evaluated using daily geochemical cycle lengths, that is, how much the shell has grown each day. Daydacna then creates an internal age model and converts the respective element compositions from being expressed over distance to being expressed over time. This information enables an unambiguous estimate of growth rate to be compared to elemental compositions, enabling (e.g.) potential (co)dependencies of these parameters to be identified. Time‐resolved data also allow to determine the timing of seasonal environmental changes, affecting the shell composition, with higher confidence and thus form an important basis for research on the seasonal aspects of the (paleo)climate. Key Points We present an approach to quantify daily growth rates in mollusks with an internal age model based on wavelet transformation of Mg/Ca data The resulting highly resolved elemental data versus time can be used to evaluate the timing of (sub)seasonal environmental changes The comparison of growth rate and elemental composition in a late‐Miocene specimen indicates a (co)dependence of Mg/Ca and growth rate

Divergence and diversity at the level of phonology and lexicon in many of the Austronesian languages of Borneo are widely recognized and well studied. However, the source of this divergence is debated. In this paper, lexical items in the languages of Borneo which lack secure Austronesian etymologies are the object of study. Some of these words show potential semantic and phonological matches with Austroasiatic forms, suggesting a possible early period of in situ contact between Austronesian speakers and speakers of Mon-Khmer languages on the island of Borneo.

Several recent studies place the languages of Borneo into one of two large groups, the Greater North Borneo subgroup and the Barito–Basap linkage. These same studies place both Greater North Borneo and Barito–Basap with the Western Indonesian subgroup, a large subgroup which is claimed to be a primary branch of Malayo-Polynesian. This paper demonstrates that the exclusively lexical evidence used to justify such subgroups is invalid as subgrouping evidence. Instead, it is shown that the languages of Borneo developed a small number of Bornean-only lexical items through contact, borrowing, and early innovations within the first Proto-Malayo-Polynesian-speaking settlers of the island. To support these claims, a detailed description of both the methods of lexical innovation evaluation as well as the types of linguistic relations that such lexical innovations support is undertaken in this paper. A new standard for the use of lexical evidence in subgrouping arguments is established, with wide-ranging implications for not only the classification of Bornean languages but of western Malayo-Polynesian languages in general.

This research focuses on the present economic, cultural, and linguistic issues of Telok Melano, a hamlet in Sarawak that was formerly isolated from nearby communities. Telok Melano is changing dramatically as a result of the Pan Borneo Highway construction and the nature of cultural obsolescence in modern society. This qualitative study has been conducted through face-to-face structured and semi-structured interviews, as well as participant observation. This study found that the highway construction benefits the villagers. An economic overturn has begun among them, and basic infrastructure has also been greatly enhanced as a result of the project’s spin-off. Are these changes beneficial to their cultural practices? Ethnographic techniques are delivering a number of interesting results. For instance, the changes have solidified the local Malays’ religious beliefs. Although the locals have abandoned many traditional practices in order to comply with Islamic beliefs, they have preserved certain traditional etiquette. In terms of language, a generational gap emerged between three linguistic varieties spoken in this area. Their dominant mother tongue, the Kuching Malay dialect, is becoming more commonly spoken, particularly with outsiders. This study successfully presents the picture of economic and social changes in Telok Melano following the development of this new road system.

Hliboi Bidayuh is spoken in the West Kalimantan province of Indonesia, on the island of Borneo. It is part of the larger Land Dayak subgroup, with member languages on both sides of the Malaysia–Indonesia border. Hliboi has several phonological features that warrant focused attention. For example, Hliboi contains geminate consonants in word-initial position, but not in other positions and a restriction on geminate voicing that appears to run counter to typological implications; geminates must be voiced, never voiceless. Hliboi also reflects interesting sound changes that it shares with several other languages of Borneo with “busy” historical phonologies, including the destressing and reduction of penultimate syllables, syllable complexification, and vowel breaking processes that have arisen in now-stressed word-final syllables. In this study, the historical and synchronic phonologies of Hliboi are discussed in detail. The preference for voiced over voiceless geminates is hypothesized to be due to their word-initial only restriction, where perceptual pressures favor voiced over voiceless segments. The historical changes that gave rise to Hliboi’s phonology are ultimately rooted in stress shift, a feature that it shares with other languages of the Central Bornean Linguistic Area.

We examine the concept of cultural resilience among the eastern Penan community of Long Lamai in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. Long Lamai is in the Heart of Borneo, a global conservation priority region that contains some of the planet’s most biologically diverse equatorial rainforest habitats. The Penan have undergone significant and rapid evolutions in their lifestyle, including transitioning from being a nomadic tribe living and subsisting wholly in the rainforest to a settled community in the village of Long Lamai over the past 60 years. We utilize participatory research methods to examine how the Penan indigenous community defines resilience and how this relates to aspects of their cultural identity that they want to maintain in the face of globalization. Results identify which dimensions of culture are relevant to Penan resilience and provide insights into enhancing indigenous communities’ cultural resilience.

Research on emotion in anthropology has been supplanted by an ethnographic turn toward ‘subjectivity’, ‘embodiment’, ‘personhood’, and ‘experience’. In this article, I explore how these interrelated modes of analysis can help ethnographers to better understand the cultural processes that constitute how people feel. I show that among my Christian Dusun interlocutors in Ranau, Malaysian Borneo, the interactive engagement between subjects and their environment determined the vectors of emotional possibility in terms of belief. The intersection of religious objects (God, the Holy Spirit, Satan) and mutual obligations in the community produce what I refer to as the ‘faith network’. I trace these collective attachments to consider how ‘believing in’ regulates feeling in relation to situations of crisis, impasse, and tragedy. The combined efforts of my interlocutors, I suggest, created an active commitment that pulsated through the faith network, which sustained an intensive and defining mode of their relational experience.

Background: The indications for awake craniotomy now spans from resection of tumours at eloquent areas of the brain, deep brain stimulation and treatment of aneurysms to name a few. In the region of East Malaysia where patients have various ethnic backgrounds and native languages, planning and execution of these procedures can be somewhat challenging. Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of 11 awake surgeries conducted by the Department of Neurosurgery in Sarawak. The indications for awake craniotomy surgery in our sample population were intra-axial lesions in eloquent regions involving important cortical areas and subcortical tracts which were at risk of damage during tumour excision. Patients were assessed for intra-operative and post-operative neurological deficits. Results: Eleven patients aged 20 years old70 years old were included in this series. All patients were diagnosed with lesions in eloquent areas of the brain requiring surgical excision. Patients were of various ethnic backgrounds. The spoken language of these patients also varied based on their ethnicity. The histopathological diagnosis of nine patients were consistent with gliomas with three being of high grade. Three patients (27%) developed intra-operative deficits that were not present pre-operatively. Conclusion: This case series serve to demonstrate the feasibility of awake craniotomies even in centres without vast experiences in awake surgeries and ideal adjuncts which in comparison may be readily available in different centres. Although careful patient selection has been emphasised, it is a difficult feat in a region consisting of at least 30 different ethnic groups with distinct languages and cultures.

We have used electron probe microanalysis to examine Southeast Asian nephrite (jade) artifacts, many archeologically excavated, dating from 3000 B.C. through the first millennium A.D. The research has revealed the existence of one of the most extensive sea-based trade networks of a single geological material in the prehistoric world. Green nephrite from a source in eastern Taiwan was used to make two very specific forms of ear pendant that were distributed, between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D., through the Philippines, East Malaysia, southern Vietnam, and peninsular Thailand, forming a 3,000-km-diameter halo around the southern and eastern coastlines of the South China Sea. Other Taiwan nephrite artifacts, especially beads and bracelets, were distributed earlier during Neolithic times throughout Taiwan and from Taiwan into the Philippines.