View source for Bunak language

{{Short description|Papuan language spoken on Timor, Indonesia}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Bunak
|states=[[Indonesia]], [[East Timor]]
|region=central [[Timor]]
|speakers=76,000 
|ethnicity=[[Bunak people|Bunak]]
|date=2010
|ref=e18
|familycolor=Papuan
|fam1=[[Trans–New Guinea]] ?
|fam2=[[Berau Gulf languages|Berau Gulf]]
|fam3=[[West Bomberai languages|West Bomberai]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/trans-new-guinea/berau-gulf/west-bomberai |title=New Guinea World, West Bomberai |access-date=2018-05-20 }}</ref>
|fam4=[[Timor–Alor–Pantar languages|Timor–Alor–Pantar]]
|minority=[[East Timor]]
|iso3=bfn
|glotto=buna1278
|glottorefname=Bunak
|map=Bunak.png
|mapcaption=Distribution of Bunak in East Timor (West Timor not shown)
}}

The '''Bunak language''' (also known as '''Bunaq''', '''Buna{{'}}''', '''Bunake''', pronounced {{IPA|[bunaʔ]}}) 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 languages|Timor–Alor–Pantar language family]]. The language is surrounded by [[Malayo-Polynesian languages]], like [[Uab Meto language|Uab Meto]] and [[Tetum language|Tetum]].

Bunak distinguishes between animate and inanimate noun classes.<ref name="Holton-Birds-Head">{{cite book |last1=Holton |first1=Gary |last2=Klamer |first2=Marian |editor1-last=Palmer |editor1-first=Bill |date=2018 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide |chapter=The Papuan languages of East Nusantara and the Bird’s Head |series= The World of Linguistics |volume=4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=569–640 |isbn=978-3-11-028642-7}}</ref>

== Phonology ==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+Consonant sounds
! colspan="2" |
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Stop consonant|Plosive]]/<br/>[[Affricate]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
|{{IPA link|p}}
|{{IPA link|t}}
|{{IPA link|tʃ}}
|{{IPA link|k}}
|{{IPA link|ʔ}}
|-
!<small>voiced</small>
|{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|d}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
|
|{{IPA link|s}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|h}}
|-
!<small>voiced</small>
|
|{{IPA link|z}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Trill consonant|Trill]]
|
| {{IPA link|r}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|
|{{IPA link|l}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Approximant]]
| {{IPA link|w}}
|
|
|
|
|}

* 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.<ref>[[#thesis|Schapper (2009)]].</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+'''Vowel sounds'''
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[High vowel|High]]
| align="center" |{{IPA link|i}}
|
| align="center" |{{IPA link|u}}
|-
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| align="center" |{{IPA link|e}}
|
| align="center" |{{IPA link|o}}
|-
![[Low vowel|Low]]
|
| align="center" |{{IPA link|a}}
|
|}

==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:

{| class="wikitable" 
|-
! colspan="2" | 
! singular
! dual
! plural
|-
! rowspan="2" | 1st person
! exclusive
| rowspan="2" | ne-to<br />n-
| ne-li<br />n-
| ne-i<br />n-
|-
! inclusive
| i-li<br />∅-
| i<br />∅-
|-
! colspan="2" | 2nd person
| e-to<br />∅-
| e-li<br />∅-
| e-i<br />∅-
|-
! rowspan="2" | 3rd person
! animate
| himo<br />g-
| rowspan="2" | –
| rowspan="2" | hala'i<br />g-
|-
! inanimate
| homo
|}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{Cite thesis |last=Schapper |first=Antoinette |title=Bunaq: A Papuan Language of Central Timor |date=2009 |degree=Ph.D. |publisher=Australian National University |doi=10.25911/5d611d87406d0 |doi-access=free |hdl=1885/150147 |hdl-access=free |ref=thesis}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Schapper |first=Antoinette |date=2011a |title=Crossing the border: Historical and linguistic divides among the Bunaq in central Timor |journal=Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=29–49 |doi=10.17510/wjhi.v13i1.8 |doi-access=free }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/monographs-anthropology/land-and-life-timor-leste |chapter=Finding Bunaq: The homeland and expansion of the Bunaq in central Timor |title=Land and Life in Timor-Leste: Ethnographic Essays |last=Schapper |first=Antoinette |date=2011b |publisher=ANU Press |isbn=978-1-921862-59-5 |editor-last=McWilliam |editor-first=Andrew |doi=10.22459/lltl.12.2011.08 |editor-last2=Traube |editor-first2=Elizabeth G. |doi-access=free }}
* {{Cite book |title=A Grammar of Bunaq |last=Schapper |first=Antoinette |date=2022 |series=Mouton Grammar Library |volume=86|publisher=Mouton deGruyter |isbn=9783110714500 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/isbn/9783110761146/html?lang=en |ref=2022 }}

== External links ==
* ELAR archive of [http://elar.soas.ac.uk/deposit/0329 Zapal, an oral literature genre of the Bunaq Lamaknen]
* Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, [https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/trans-new-guinea/berau-gulf/west-bomberai/timor-alor-pantar/bunaq Bunaq]

{{Languages of East Timor}}
{{West Trans–New Guinea languages}}

[[Category:Languages of Indonesia]]
[[Category:Languages of Timor-Leste]]
[[Category:Timor–Alor–Pantar languages]]

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