Sawai language

Last updated
Sawai
Weda
Native to Indonesia
Region North Maluku province
Native speakers
12,000 (2000) [1]
Dialects
  • Weda
  • Sawai
  • Kobe
  • Faya-Mafa
  • Messa-Dote
Language codes
ISO 639-3 szw
Glottolog sawa1247
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The Sawai language (also Weda) is a South Halmahera language of the Austronesian language family spoken in the Weda and Gane Timor districts of southern Halmahera, northern Maluku Province, Indonesia. There are approximately 12,000 speakers.

Contents

Sounds

Below is a description of the Kobe dialect of Sawai spoken in the villages of Lelilef Woyebulan and Kobe Peplis, as well as from Whistler (1995).

Consonants

Sawai has 15 consonants:

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar
Stop p    b t    d   k    ɡ
Fricative f s   
Nasal m n   ŋ
Semivowel w   j  
Liquid   l    ɾ   

Vowels

Sawai has eight vowels:

  Front Central Back
High i u
High-Mid e ə o
Low-Mid ɛ ɔ
Low a

Syllable

Sawai has the following syllable structure:

(C)(C)V(C)

Examples:

wordglosssyllable type
/i/'s/he/it'V
/in/'fish'VC
/wo/'alcoholic drink'CV
/npo/'s/he/it gives'CCV
/kot/'magic statue'CVC
/nfan/'s/he/it goes'CCVC

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References

  1. Sawai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

Bibliography