Bunak language
Template:Short description Template:More footnotes needed Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other
The Bunak language (also known as Bunaq, BunaTemplate:', Bunake, pronounced Script error: No such module "IPA".) is the language of the Bunak people of the mountainous region of central Timor, split between the political boundary between West Timor, Indonesia, particularly in Lamaknen District and East Timor. It is one of the few on Timor which is not an Austronesian language, but rather a Papuan language of the Timor–Alor–Pantar language family. The language is surrounded by Malayo-Polynesian languages, like Uab Meto and Tetum.
Bunak distinguishes between animate and inanimate noun classes.[1]
Phonology
- Plosive sounds /p t k/ can be heard as unreleased allophones [p̚ t̚ k̚], in word-final position.
- Sounds /b d ɡ/ can be heard as [β r ɣ] in intervocalic positions.
- /ɡ/ can be heard as [dʒ] when preceding /i/.
- /z/ can have allophones [ʒ dʒ] in free variation.
- /tʃ/ is heard as [s] when preceding /i/.
- /l/ in word-final position can also be heard as a fricative [ɬ] in free variation.[2]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | |
| Mid | Template:IPA link | Template:IPA link | |
| Low | Template:IPA link |
Pronouns
Pronouns seem to tie Bunak more closely to the Alor–Pantar languages, in a group Ross (2005) calls "West Timor", than with the Papuan East Timor languages. The independent pronouns and object prefixes, which appear to retain the proto-Trans–New Guinea dual suffix *-li, are as follows:
| singular | dual | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | exclusive | ne-to n- |
ne-li n- |
ne-i n- |
| inclusive | i-li ∅- |
i ∅- | ||
| 2nd person | e-to ∅- |
e-li ∅- |
e-i ∅- | |
| 3rd person | animate | himo g- |
– | hala'i g- |
| inanimate | homo | |||
Notes
References
- Template:Cite thesis
- Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
External links
- ELAR archive of Zapal, an oral literature genre of the Bunaq Lamaknen
- Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, Bunaq
Template:Languages of East Timor Template:West Trans–New Guinea languages
Template:EastTimor-stub Template:TNG-lang-stub
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Schapper (2009).