Mentawai language

Last updated
Mentawai
Nganga Simatawe
Native to West Sumatra, Indonesia
Region Mentawai Islands
Native speakers
58,000 (2000 census) [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 mwv
Glottolog ment1249

The Mentawai language is an Austronesian language, spoken by the Mentawai people of the Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra, Indonesia.

Contents

Dialects

According to Ethnologue, Mentawai dialects include: Silabu, Sipura – Simalegi, Sakalagan, Saumanganja – North Siberut, South Siberut – Taikaku – Pagai. [1]

Syamsir Arifin, et al. (1992) list twelve dialects of Mentawai:

Dialects in Siberut Island are: [2]

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive/
Affricate
voiceless p t ( t͡ɕ ) k
voiced b d d͡ʑ ɡ
Fricative s
Lateral l
Rhotic r
Semivowel w j

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minangkabau language</span> Austronesian language, spoken by the Minangkabau of West Sumatra

Minangkabau is an Austronesian language spoken by the Minangkabau of West Sumatra, the western part of Riau, South Aceh Regency, the northern part of Bengkulu and Jambi, also in several cities throughout Indonesia by migrated Minangkabau. The language is also a lingua franca along the western coastal region of the province of North Sumatra, and is even used in parts of Aceh, where the language is called Aneuk Jamee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mentawai Islands Regency</span> Regency in West Sumatra, Indonesia

The Mentawai Islands Regency is a regency of West Sumatra Province which consists of a chain of about a hundred islands and islets approximately 150 kilometres off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. They cover a land area of 6,033.76 km2 and had a population of 76,173 at the 2010 Census and 87,623 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as of mid-2023 was 95,068.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pig-tailed langur</span> Species of Old World monkey

The pig-tailed langur, monotypic in genus Simias, is a large Old World monkey, endemic to several small islands off the coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. Its face is black, its fur is black-brown and it has a relatively short tail. It is a diurnal species, feeding in the rainforest canopy on leaves, and to a lesser extent, fruit and berries. Little is known of its natural history, but it is heavily hunted, its populations have been declining rapidly and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being "critically endangered". It has been included on a list of the World's 25 Most Endangered Primates.

Mongondow, or Bolaang Mongondow, is one of the Philippine languages spoken in Bolaang Mongondow Regency and neighbouring regencies of North Sulawesi (Celebes) and Gorontalo Provinces, Indonesia. With more than 200,000 speakers, it is the major language of the regency. Historically, it served as the official language of the Bolaang Mongondow Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sipora</span> Island in West Sumatra, Indonesia

Sipora located off Sumatra in the West Sumatra Province of Indonesia, is the second-smallest and most developed of the four Mentawai Islands at only 620.73 km2. It had a population of 17,557 at the 2010 Census and 21,901 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 23,228. The regency capital of the Mentawai Islands, Tuapejat, is found on Sipora. An estimated 10-15% of the original rainforest remains on this island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mentawai people</span> Ethnic group in Indonesia

Mentawai people are the native people of the Mentawai Islands about 100 miles from West Sumatra province, Indonesia. They live a semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle in the coastal and rainforest environments of the islands and are also one of the oldest tribes in Indonesia. The Mentawai population is estimated to be about 64,000. The Mentawai tribe is documented to have migrated from Nias – a northern island – to the Mentawai islands, living in an isolated life for centuries until they encountered the Dutch in 1621. The ancestors of the indigenous Mentawai people are believed to have first migrated to the region somewhere between 2000 and 500 BCE. The Mentawai language belongs to the Austronesian language family. They follow their own animist belief system called Arat Sabulungan, that links the supernatural powers of ancestral spirits to the ecology of the rainforest. When the spirits are not treated well or forgotten, they might bring bad luck like illnesses and haunt those who forgot them. Mentawai also have very strong belief towards objects they think are holy. The people are characterized by their heavy spirituality, body art and their tendency to sharpen their teeth, a cultural practice tied to Mentawai beauty ideals. Mentawai tend to live in unison and peace with the nature around them because they believe that all things in nature have a form of spiritual essence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uab Meto language</span> Austronesian language spoken in West Timor

Uab Meto or Dawan is an Austronesian language spoken by Atoni people of West Timor. The language has a variant spoken in the East Timorese exclave of Oecussi-Ambeno, called Baikenu. Baikenu uses words derived from Portuguese, for example, obrigadu for 'thank you', instead of the Indonesian terima kasih.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tobelo language</span> North Halmahera language spoken in Indonesia

Tobelo is a North Halmahera language spoken on the eastern Indonesian island of Halmahera and on parts of several neighboring islands. The Tobelo-speaking heartland is in the six administrative districts of Tobelo, located on the western shore of Kao Bay and forming the central part of Halmahera Utara Regency. Other Tobelo speaking areas are the five districts of Wasile on the south and east coast of Kao Bay, and the northern half of Morotai Island. The district capital, also known as Tobelo, serves as a regional commercial and administrative center and is the largest settlement on Halmahera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malayic languages</span> Subgroup of the Austronesian language family

The Malayic languages are a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian language family. The most prominent member is Malay, a pluricentric language given national status in Brunei and Singapore while also the basis for national standards Malaysian in Malaysia and Indonesian in Indonesia. The Malayic branch also includes local languages spoken by ethnic Malays, further several languages spoken by various other ethnic groups of Sumatra, Indonesia and Borneo even as far as Urak Lawoi in the southwestern coast of Thailand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lampung language</span> Language in Indonesia

Lampung or Lampungic is an Austronesian language or dialect cluster with around 1.5 million native speakers, who primarily belong to the Lampung ethnic group of southern Sumatra, Indonesia. It is divided into two or three varieties: Lampung Api, Lampung Nyo, and Komering. The latter is sometimes included in Lampung Api, sometimes treated as an entirely separate language. Komering people see themselves as ethnically separate from, but related to, Lampung people.

The Gorontalo language is a language spoken in Gorontalo Province, Sulawesi, Indonesia by the Gorontalo people. With around one million speakers, it is a major language of northern Sulawesi.

The Pagai spiny rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in the Mentawai Islands of Indonesia, on South Pagai, North Pagai, Sipora, and Siberut islands.

The Mentawai Archipelago rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in the Mentawai Islands of Indonesia, on the islands of Siberut, Sipora, Pagai Utara, and Pagai Selatan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mentawai langur</span> Species of Old World monkey

The Mentawai langur is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. It is endemic to the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. The Siberut langur was formerly considered a subspecies of the Mentawai langur.

Lawangan is an Austronesian language of the East Barito group. It is spoken by about 100,000 Lawangan people living in the central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Lawangan has a high degree of dialectal diversity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palembang language</span> Malayic variety spoken in southern Sumatera

Palembang, also known as Palembang Malay, is a Malayic variety of the Musi dialect chain primarily spoken in the city of Palembang and nearby lowlands, and also as a lingua franca throughout South Sumatra. Since parts of the region used to be under direct Javanese rule for quite a long time, Palembang is significantly influenced by Javanese, down to its core vocabularies.

Kei is an Austronesian language spoken in a small region of the Moluccas, a province of Indonesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sakuddei</span> Ethnic group on Siberut, Indonesia

The Sakuddei or Sabiroet people are an ethnic group, one of at least eleven, on the island of Siberut, Indonesia. Siberut is the northernmost of the Mentawai Islands which are located 130 km (81 mi) to the west off the coast of Sumatra. The Sakuddei live in south-central Siberut in an egalitarian society, cut off from the outside world. They speak a dialect of the Malayo-Polynesian Mentawai language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tontemboan language</span> Austronesian language spoken in Sulawesi, Indonesia

Tontemboan is an Austronesian language, of northern Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is a Minahasan language, a sub-group of the Philippine languages.

Kendayan, or Salako (Selako), is a Malayic Dayak language of Borneo. The exact number of speakers remains unknown, but is estimated to be around 350,000.

References

  1. 1 2 Mentawai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. "Findresults.site".
  3. Arifin, Malano & Kasim (1992)

Bibliography