Molbog language

Last updated
Molbog
Native to Philippines, Sabah
Ethnicity Molbog
Native speakers
(6,700 in the Philippines cited 1990) [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 pwm
Glottolog molb1237

Molbog is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines and Sabah, Malaysia. The majority of speakers are concentrated at the southernmost tip of the Philippine province of Palawan, specifically the municipalities of Bataraza and Balabac. Both municipalities are considered as bastions for environmental conservation in the province. The majority of Molbog speakers are Muslims.

Contents

The classification of Molbog is controversial. [2] Thiessen (1981) groups Molbog with the Palawanic languages, based on shared phonological and lexical innovations. [3] This classification is supported by Smith (2017). [4] An alternative view is taken by Lobel (2013), who puts Molbog together with Bonggi in a Molbog-Bonggi subgroup. [5] Ethnically, the Molbog was previously a sub-group of the larger Palaw'an people, and later became as it is due to Islamic influences from the Tausug and Sama-Bajau peoples. [6]

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless p t k ʔ
voiced b d ( ) ɡ
Nasal m n ( ɲ ) ŋ
Fricative s h
Flap ɾ
Lateral l
Approximant w j

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid o
Open a

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malayo-Polynesian languages</span> Major subgroup of the Austronesian language family

The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, with a smaller number in continental Asia in the areas near the Malay Peninsula, with Cambodia, Vietnam and the Chinese island Hainan as the northwest geographic outlier. Malagasy, spoken on the island of Madagascar off the eastern coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, is the furthest western outlier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maranao language</span> Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines

Maranao is an Austronesian language spoken by the Maranao people in the provinces of Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte and the cities of Marawi and Iligan City in the Philippines, as well as in Sabah, Malaysia. It is a subgroup of the Danao languages of the Moros in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philippine languages</span> Proposed branch of the Austronesian language family

The Philippine languages or Philippinic are a proposed group by R. David Paul Zorc (1986) and Robert Blust that include all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi, Indonesia—except Sama–Bajaw and the Molbog language—and form a subfamily of Austronesian languages. Although the Philippines is near the center of Austronesian expansion from Taiwan, there is relatively little linguistic diversity among the approximately 150 Philippine languages, suggesting that earlier diversity has been erased by the spread of the ancestor of the modern Philippine languages.

Kanakanavu is a Southern Tsouic language spoken by the Kanakanavu people, an indigenous people of Taiwan. It is a Formosan language of the Austronesian family.

<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">Robert Blust</span> American linguist (1940–2022)

Robert A. Blust was an American linguist who worked in several areas, including historical linguistics, lexicography and ethnology. He was Professor of Linguistics at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Blust specialized in the Austronesian languages and made major contributions to the field of Austronesian linguistics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lun Bawang language</span> Austronesian language spoken on Borneo

Lun Bawang or Lundayeh is the language spoken by the Lun Bawangs. It belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sama–Bajaw languages</span> Austronesian language family of Borneo and the Philippines

The Sama–Bajaw languages are a well-established group of languages spoken by the Sama-Bajau peoples of the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

The Gorontalo–Mongondow languages are a group of Austronesian languages spoken in northern Sulawesi, Indonesia.

The Greater North Borneo languages are a proposed subgroup of the Austronesian language family. The subgroup historically covers languages that are spoken throughout much of Borneo and Sumatra, as well as parts of Java, and Mainland Southeast Asia. The Greater North Borneo hypothesis was first proposed by Robert Blust (2010) and further elaborated by Alexander Smith. The evidence presented for this proposal are solely lexical. Despite its name, this branch has been now widespread within the Maritime Southeast Asia region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malayo-Sumbawan languages</span> Proposed subgroup of the Austronesian language family

The Malayo-Sumbawan languages are a proposed subgroup of the Austronesian languages that unites the Malayic and Chamic languages with the languages of Java and the western Lesser Sunda Islands, except for Javanese. If valid, it would be the largest demonstrated family of Malayo-Polynesian outside Oceanic. The Malayo-Sumbawan subgroup is however not universally accepted, and is rejected e.g. by Blust (2010) and Smith (2017), who supported the Greater North Borneo and Western Indonesian hypotheses. In a 2019 paper published in Oceanic Linguistics, Adelaar accepted both of these groupings, in addition to Smith's (2018) redefinition of Barito languages as forming a linkage.

The Sabahan languages are a group of Austronesian languages centered on the Bornean province of Sabah.

The Molbog-Bonggi languages are a proposed microgroup the Austronesian languages comprising Bonggi and Molbog, spoken in Sabah on Borneo, on Palawan in the Philippines, and on the islands in between.

The Palawanic languages are a subgroup in the Greater Central Philippine-family spoken on the island of Palawan and nearby islets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of Sulawesi</span>

On the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, 114 native languages are spoken, all of which belong to the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup of the Austronesian language family. With a total number of 17,200,000 inhabitants, Sulawesi displays a high linguistic diversity when compared with the most densely populated Indonesian island Java, which hosts 4–8 languages spoken by 145,100,000 inhabitants.

The Greater Central Philippine languages are a proposed subgroup of the Austronesian language family, defined by the change of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *R to *g. They are spoken in the central and southern parts of the Philippines, eastern and western parts of Sabah, Malaysia and in northern Sulawesi, Indonesia. This subgroup was first proposed by Robert Blust (1991) based on lexical and phonological evidence, and is accepted by most specialists in the field.

The Negrito peoples of the Philippines speak various Philippine languages. They have more in common with neighboring languages than with each other, and are listed here merely as an aid to identification.

Ponosakan is a moribund Austronesian language spoken in the vicinity of the town of Belang, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. This language is almost extinct, with only four fluent speakers left as of November 2014.

The Proto-Philippine language is a reconstructed ancestral proto-language of the Philippine languages, a proposed subgroup of the Austronesian languages which includes all languages within the Philippines as well as those within the northern portions of Sulawesi in Indonesia. Proto-Philippine is not directly attested to in any written work, but linguistic reconstruction by the comparative method has found regular similarities among languages that cannot be explained by coincidence or word-borrowing.

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

Rejang is an Austronesian language predominantly spoken by the Rejang people in southwestern parts of Sumatra (Bengkulu), Indonesia. There are five dialects, spread from mountainous region to the coastal region of Bengkulu, including the Musi (Musai) dialect, the Lebong dialect, the Kebanagung dialect, the Rawas (Awes) dialect, and the Pesisir dialect.

References

  1. Molbog at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Blust, Robert (2010). "The Greater North Borneo Hypothesis". Oceanic Linguistics. 49 (1): 44–118. doi:10.1353/ol.0.0060. JSTOR   40783586. S2CID   145459318.
  3. Thiessen, Henry Arnold (1981). Phonological reconstruction of Proto Palawan. Anthropological Papers, no. 10. Manila: National Museum of the Philippines.
  4. Smith, Alexander (2017). The Languages of Borneo: A Comprehensive Classification (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
  5. Lobel, Jason William (2013). "Southwest Sabah Revisited". Oceanic Linguistics. 52 (1): 36–68. doi:10.1353/ol.2013.0013. JSTOR   43286760. S2CID   142990330.
  6. "View ICCA Site". 5 May 2021.
  7. Zorc, R. David; Thiessen, H. Arnold (1995). Molbog: introduction and wordlist. Darrell T. Tryon (ed.), Comparative Austronesian dictionary: an introduction to Austronesian studies: Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 359–362.