Minahasan languages

Minahasan
Geographic distribution	North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Ethnicity	Minahasans
Linguistic classification	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Minahasan
Language codes
Glottolog	mina1272

The Minahasan languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages spoken by the Minahasa people in northern Sulawesi, Indonesia. They belong to the Philippine subgroup.

Considerable lexical influence comes from Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and Ternate, a historical legacy of the presence of foreign powers. ^{[1] [2]} The Minahasan languages are distinct from the Manado Malay (Minahasa Malay) language, which is Malayic in origin, and has been displacing the indigenous languages of the area. ^{[3] [4]}

Classification

The languages are Tonsawang, Tontemboan, Tondano, Tombulu and Tonsea. ^[5]

The Minahasan languages are classified as a branch of the Philippine subgroup. ^[6]

Although also spoken in the Minahasa region, the Bantik and Ratahan languages, which are Sangiric languages, as well as the Ponosakan language, which is a Gorontalo–Mongondow language, are more distantly related, thus not covered by the term in a genealogical sense. ^{[7] [8]}

Reconstruction

Proto-Minahasan
Reconstruction of	Minahasan languages
Reconstructed ancestors	Proto-Austronesian Proto-Malayo-Polynesian Proto-Philippine

Proto-Minahasan (PMin) has been reconstructed by Sneddon (1978). ^[9] The comparison table (a small selection from Sneddon 1978 :120–183) illustrates the correspondences between the Minahasan languages, including inherited vocabulary as well as Minahasan innovations. ^[10]

Comparison table

Words inherited from Proto-Austronesian (PAn)
Tondano	Tonsea	Tombulu	Tontemboan	Tonsawang	PMin	PAn	Meaning
təlu	tədu	təlu	təlu	təlu	*təlu	*təlu	'three'
oat	oat	ohat	oʔat	ohatᶿ	*ohat	*huRaC	'vein'
rui	dui	duhi	duʔi	duhi	*duhi	*duRi	'bone'
ədo	əndo	əndo	əndo	əndo	*əndo	*qaləjaw	'sun'
pate	pate	pate	pate	patᶿe	*pate	*paCay	'kill'
Minahasan innovations
Tondano	Tonsea	Tombulu	Tontemboan	Tonsawang	PMin	PAn	Meaning
tələs	tələs	tələs	tələs	tələs	*tələs	(*bəli)	'buy'
edo	endo	endo	indo	indo	*indo	(*alaq)	'take'

See also

• Sangiric languages
• Gorontalo–Mongondow languages
• Languages of Sulawesi

References

Notes

1. Watuseke, F. S. (1965), "Kata-kata Ternate dalam bahasa Melaju-Manado dan bahasa-bahasa Minahasa", Pembina Bahasa Indonesia (in Indonesian), IX: 107–110
2. Schouten, M. J. C. (1998), Leadership and social mobility in a Southeast Asian society: Minahasa, 1677–1983, Leiden: KITLV Press, pp. 39–40
3. Watupongoh, Geraldine Y. J. Manoppo (1992), Struktur bahasa Tondano (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa, Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, p. 2
4. Henley, David (1996), Nationalism and regionalism in a colonial context: Minahasa in the Dutch East Indies, Leiden: KITLV Press, p. 86
5. Sneddon (1978), p. 9.
6. Adelaar (2005), p. 16.
7. Watuseke, F. S. (1956), "Bahasa Tondano", Bahasa dan budaja (in Indonesian), 4/5: 3–14
8. Watuseke, F. S. (1977), "'Kolano' in the Tondano Language", Papers in Borneo and Western Austronesian linguistics No. 2 (PDF), Pacific Linguistics A-33, C. Court, R. A. Blust, F. S. Watuseke, Canberra: Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, pp. 123–132, doi:10.15144/PL-A33 , retrieved 2022-12-24
9. Sneddon (1978).
10. Sneddon (1989), p. 85.

Bibliography

• Sneddon, James N. (1978). Proto-Minahasan: phonology, morphology, and wordlist . Pacific Linguistics B-54. Canberra: Austronesian National University. doi: 10.15144/PL-B54 . ISBN   9780858831698.
• Sneddon, James N. (1989). "The North Sulawesi Microgroups: In Search of Higher Level Connections". In Sneddon, James N. (ed.). Studies in Sulawesi Linguistics, Part 1 (PDF). NUSA Vol. 31. Jakarta: Universitas Katolik Atma Jaya.
• Adelaar, Alexander (2005). "The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar: a historical perspective". In Adelaar, Alexander; Himmelmann, Nikolaus (eds.). The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar. London: Routledge.

External links

• Minahasan at Ethnologue (23rd ed., 2020).
• Classification of Sulawesi Languages