Balantak language
Balantak is an Austronesian language spoken at the head of the eastern peninsula of Sulawesi. It is classified as a member of the Saluan-Banggai branch of the Celebic subgroup. The Balantak language is the primary language of the Balantak people. Although 90% of the population are also proficient in Indonesian, the vernacular is still vigorously used in everyday contexts, and most children only speak Balantak before entering school.[2]
| Balantak | |
|---|---|
| Wurung Balantak | |
| Native to | Indonesia |
| Region | Sulawesi |
| Ethnicity | Balantak people |
Native speakers | 30,000 (2000)[1] |
Austronesian
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | blz |
| Glottolog | bala1315 |
Phonology
Balantak has the following phoneme inventory:[3]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | ʔ | |
| voiced | b | d | g | |||
| Fricative | s | (h) | ||||
| Affricate | (t͡ʃ)/(d͡ʒ) | |||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Trill | r | |||||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||
- /ŋ/ is written ⟨ng⟩
- /j/ is written ⟨y⟩
- /ʔ/ is written ⟨'⟩
- /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/ are written ⟨c⟩ and ⟨j⟩, and only occur in loanwords.
- /h/ only occurs in loanwords
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Low | a |
Sequences of like vowels are phonetically realized as long vowels, e.g. toop [tɔ:p] 'cigarette', nuur [nu:r] 'coconut'.
References
- Balantak at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- van den Berg & Busenitz (2012), p. 4
- van den Berg & Busenitz (2012)
Further reading
- Busenitz, Robert L.; Busenitz, Marilyn J. (1991). "Balantak Phonology and Morphophonemics" (PDF). In Sneddon, James N. (ed.). Studies in Sulawesi Linguistics, Part II. NUSA 33. Jakarta: Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya. pp. 29–47.
- van den Berg, René; Busenitz, Robert L. (2012). A Grammar of Balantak: A Language of Eastern Sulawesi. SIL e‑Books 40. Dallas: SIL International.
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