Tabaru language

Tabaru
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Halmahera
Ethnicity	Tabaru
Native speakers	(15,000 cited 1991) [1]
Language family	West Papuan? North Halmahera Galela–Tobelo Tabaru
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tby
Glottolog	taba1263

Tabaru is a North Halmahera language of Indonesia.

Phonology

Vowels

Tabaru has a simple five vowel system: a, e, i, o, u. ^[2]

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	c	k
	voiced	b	d	ɟ	ɡ
Fricative		f	s			h
Semivowel				j	w
Lateral			l
Trill			r

Syllable structure and stress

On the surface level, Tabaru only allows syllables of the type (C)V. Words with an underlying final consonant add an echo vowel: ngówaka (/ngowak/) ′child′, ókere (/oker/) ′drink′, sárimi (/sarim/) ′paddle′, ódomo (/odom/) ′eat′, pálusu (/palus/) ′answer′. The echo vowel is dropped when a suffix is added: woísene (/woisen/) ′hear′, but woisenoka (/woisen/ + /oka/) ′heard′. Stress regularly falls on the penultimate syllable, but shifts to the antepenultimate when the word takes an echo vowel. ^{[3] : 163}

References

1. Tabaru at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Fortgens, J. (1928). "Grammatikale Aanteekeningen van het Tabaroesch; Tabaroesche Volksverhalen en Raadsels" [Grammatical Notes of Tabaru; Tabaru Folktales and Riddles]. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië (in Dutch). 84 (2/3): 300–544. JSTOR   20770253. doi : 10.1163/22134379-90001497 doi : 10.1163/22134379-90001498
3. Kotynski, Edward A. (1988). "Tabaru phonology and morphology". Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota. 32: 143–216. doi: 10.31356/silwp.vol32.06 .