Muna language

Muna is an Austronesian language spoken principally on the island of Muna and the adjacent (northwestern) part of Buton Island, off the southeast coast of Sulawesi in Indonesia. The language is well-documented, publications in English include a grammar and a dictionary by René van den Berg (1989, 1996).[2][3]

Muna
Wamba Wuna
Native toSulawesi, Indonesia
RegionMuna Island, Buton Island
Native speakers
(300,000 cited 1989, 2007)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3mnb
Glottologmuna1247

Classification

Muna belongs to the Muna–Buton subgroup, which is a branch of the larger Celebic subgroup.[4] Within the Muna–Buton languages, Muna is the largest member of the Munic subbranch, which also includes smaller languages such as Pancana, Kioko, Liabuku, Kaimbulawa, and Busoa.[5][6]

Dialects

Muna has three dialects:

  • "Standard" Muna, which is spoken in the northern and central part of Muna Island, as well as on the northwestern coast of Buton Island;
  • the Tiworo dialect, spoken on Muna in the northwestern Tikep district;
  • southern Muna, with two subdialects, viz. Gumas and Siompu.

Differences between these dialects are mostly lexical, but also phonological.[7]

Phonology

Consonants

Muna has the following consonant phonemes.[8]

Consonants
Labial Lamino-dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Plosive voiceless plain p t (c) k
prenasalized ᵐp ⁿt ᵑk
voiced plain b d̪ <dh> d (ɟ) g
prenasalized ᵐb ⁿd ᵑg
implosive ɓ <bh>
Fricative voiceless plain f s h
prenasalized ⁿs
voiced ʁ <gh>
Nasal m n ŋ <ng>
Trill r
Lateral l
Approximant ʋ <w> (j) <y>

Notes:

  • The phoneme /ʋ/ is realized as a labiodental approximant [ʋ] before unrounded vowels, and as a bilabial approximant [β̞] before rounded vowels.[9]
  • In rapid speech, the sequences /bu, pu, mbu, mpu/ have trilled allophones [ʙu, ʙ̥u, mʙu, mʙ̥u] in stressed position.[10]
  • In the alveolar column, /t/ and /ⁿt/ are actually apico-dental.[10]

Vowels

The vowel inventory comprises five vowels: /a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, /o/.[11] They can freely combine into sequences of two or three vowels. Sequences of two like vowels are pronounced as a long vowel, e.g. tuu [tu:] 'knee'. In sequences of three vowels, there is an optional non-phonemic glottal stop after the first vowel, e.g. nokoue [noko(ʔ)ue] 'it has veins'.[12]

Syllable structure

Like many other languages on Sulawesi,[13] Muna only has open syllables of the types CV (consonant-vowel) and V (vowel), e.g. kaindea /ka.i.ⁿde.a/ 'plantation', padamalala /pa.da.ma.la.la/ 'citronella', akumadiuandae /a.ku.ma.di.u.a.ⁿda.e/ 'I will wash them with it'.[14] Loanwords from Malay/Indonesian and other source languages are adapted to the syllable structure of Muna: karadhaa /karad̪aa/ < Malay kerja 'work', kantori /kaⁿtori/ < Malay kantor 'office' (from Dutch kantoor), wakutuu /wakutuu/ < Malay waktu 'time' (from Arabic waqt).[15]

Grammar

Verbs

Verbs are inflected for mood and person (of both subject and object). Person marking is strictly nominative–accusative: person marking prefixes indicate the subject of transitive and intransitive verbs, while person marking suffixes are used to mark the direct and indirect object.[16]

There are three verb classes, which have slightly different forms for the subject prefix. The classes are named after the first person singular prefix.[17]

a-class ae-class ao-class
realis irrealis realis irrealis realis irrealis
1.sg. a-a-ae-ae-ao-ao-
2.sg.fam. o-o-ome-ome-omo-omo-
2.sg.hon. to-ta-te-tae-to-tao-
3.sg. no-na-ne-nae-no-nao-
1.du.incl. do-da-de-dae-do-dao-
1.pl.incl. do- -Vmuda- -Vmude- -Vmudae- -Vmudo- -Vmudao- -Vmu
1.pl.excl. ta-ta-tae-tae-tao-tao-
2.pl.fam. o- -Vmuo- -Vmuome- -Vmuome- -Vmuomo- -Vmuomo- -Vmu
2.pl.hon. to- -Vmuta- -Vmute- -Vmutae- -Vmuto- -Vmutao- -Vmu
3.pl. do-da-de-dae-do-dao-

For ae-class and ao-class verbs, mood is only distinguished by the use of the respective subject prefix:[18]

de-basa 'we read' (realis) ~ dae-basa 'we will read' (irrealis)
no-lodo 'he sleeps' (realis) ~ nao-lodo 'he will sleep' (irrealis)

With a-class verbs, irrealis mood is additionally marked by the infix <um>:

no-horo 'it flies' (realis) ~ na-h<um>oro 'it will fly' (irrealis)

Intransitive verbs mostly employ a-class or ao-class prefixes. As a general rule, a-class verbs are dynamic intransitive verbs, while ao-class verbs are stative intransitive verbs.[19] With a few exceptions, transitive verbs use ae-class prefixes with an indefinite object, but a-class prefixes with a definite object.[20]

ne-ala-mo kapulu 'He took a machete' (indefinite, ae-class prefix)
no-ala-mo kapulu-no 'He took his machete' (definite, a-class prefix)

There are two sets of object suffixes, marking direct and indirect objects.[21]

direct indirect
1.sg. -kanau-kanau
2.sg.fam. -ko-angko
2.sg.hon. -kaeta-kaeta
3.sg. -e-ane
1.du./pl.incl. ------
1.pl.excl. -kasami-kasami
2.pl.fam. -koomu-angkoomu
2.pl.hon. -kaetaamu-kaetaamu
3.pl. -da-anda

Combinations of two suffixes are restricted to indirect object suffixes + the third person singular direct object suffix -e:[22]

  • a-ghumoli-angko-e 'I will buy it for you.'

References

Notes
  1. Muna at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. van den Berg (1989).
  3. van den Berg (1996).
  4. Mead (2003).
  5. van den Berg (2003), p. 90.
  6. Donohue (2004), p. 33.
  7. van den Berg (1989), pp. 6–8.
  8. van den Berg (1989), p. 16.
  9. van den Berg (1989), pp. 17–18.
  10. van den Berg (1989), p. 17.
  11. van den Berg (1989), pp. 20–21.
  12. van den Berg (1989), pp. 25–27.
  13. Sneddon (1993).
  14. van den Berg (1989), pp. 23–25,180.
  15. van den Berg (1989), pp. 37–40.
  16. van den Berg (1989), pp. 50.
  17. van den Berg (1989), pp. 52–57.
  18. van den Berg (1989), pp. 57–58.
  19. van den Berg (1989), pp. 55–56.
  20. van den Berg (1989), pp. 59–63.
  21. van den Berg (1989), pp. 68.
  22. van den Berg (1989), pp. 71.

Bibliography
  • Donohue, Mark (2004). "The pretenders to the Muna-Buton group". In John Bowden; Nikolaus Himmelmann (eds.). Papers in Austronesian subgrouping and dialectology. Pacific Linguistics 563. Canberra: Australian National University. pp. 21–35. doi:10.15144/PL-563.21.
  • Mead, David (2003). "Evidence for a Celebic supergroup". In Lynch, John (ed.). Issues in Austronesian historical phonology. Pacific Linguistics 550. Canberra: Australian National University. pp. 115–141. doi:10.15144/PL-550.115.
  • Sneddon, J. N. (1993). "The Drift Towards Final Open Syllables in Sulawesi Languages". Oceanic Linguistics. 32 (1): 1–44. JSTOR 3623095.
  • van den Berg, René (1989). A Grammar of the Muna Language. Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. 139. Dordrecht: Foris Publications.
  • van den Berg, René (1996). Muna-English dictionary. Leiden: KITLV Press.
  • van den Berg, René (2003). "The place of Tukang Besi and the Muna-Buton languages". In Lynch, John (ed.). Issues in Austronesian historical phonology. Pacific Linguistics 550. Canberra: Australian National University. pp. 87–114. doi:10.15144/PL-550.87.

Further reading
  • van den Berg, René (2004). "Notes on the southern Muna dialect". In John Bowden; Nikolaus Himmelmann (eds.). Papers in Austronesian subgrouping and dialectology. Pacific Linguistics 563. Canberra: Australian National University. pp. 129–170. doi:10.15144/PL-563.129.
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