Tombonuwo language

Last updated
Tombonuo
Lobu · Mutangar Tombonuo
Native to Malaysia
Region Sabah
Ethnicity Tambanuo
Native speakers
(10,000 cited 2000) [1]
3,000 Lingkabau (2003) [1]
Dialects
  • Lingkabau
Language codes
ISO 639-3 txa
Glottolog tomb1244

Tombonuwo (Tambonuo) is a Paitanic language spoken in the Pitas and Labuk-Sugut Districts of northwest Sabah, Malaysia. [2] [3]

Contents

Phonology [4]

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive p b t̪ d k g ʔ
Fricative s
Affricate dʒ
Nasal m n ŋ
Lateral l
Tap ɾ
Semi-vowel w j

The phonemes /p,t,k,s,ʔ/ are voiceless. All other expressions are voiced.

Vowels

Front Back
High i u
Non-high a o

/o/ is often pronounced as unrounded [ʌ].

/a/ is neutralized to [ʌ] in a pre-stressed syllable.

Morphology

Focus

Sabahan languages are characterized by "focus" morphology, which marks a syntactic relationship between the predicate of a clause and the "focused" noun phrase of the clause [5] (see Austronesian alignment).

Tombonuwo has four focus categories, conventionally labelled "actor", "patient", "referent" and "theme". [6] Focus is marked by affixation on the verb.

Tense and aspect [6]

The only marked tense in Tombonuwo is past tense.

Demonstratives [6]

References

  1. 1 2 Tombonuo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ↑ King, Julie (1984). The Paitanic language family. Canberra: Australian National University. pp.  146. ISBN   0858832976.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  3. ↑ Lobel, Jason William (2013). Philippine and North Bornean languages: issues in description, subgrouping and reconstruction (PDF) (PHD dissertation). Manoa: University of Hawai'i. p. 370.
  4. ↑ King, John Wayne (1993). Tombonuwo phonemics. Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Museum. pp. 97–106. ISBN   9789839638059.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  5. ↑ Boutin, Michael (1988). Problems in analyzing focus in the languages of Sabah. Dallas: SIL. p. 54. ISBN   0883122146.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  6. 1 2 3 King, John Wayne; Levinsohn, Stephen (1991). Participant reference in Tombonuo. Canberra: Australian National University. p. 76. ISBN   0-85883-406-5.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)


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