Makassarese language

Makassarese (, ), sometimes called Makasar, Makassar, or Macassar, is a language of the Makassarese people, spoken in South Sulawesi province of Indonesia. It is a member of the South Sulawesi group of the Austronesian language family, and thus closely related to, among others, Buginese, also known as Bugis. The areas where Makassarese is spoken include the Gowa, Sinjai, Maros, Takalar, Jeneponto, Bantaeng, Pangkajene and Islands, Bulukumba, and Selayar Islands Regencies, and Makassar. Within the Austronesian language family, Makassarese is part of the South Sulawesi language group, although its vocabulary is considered divergent compared to its closest relatives. In 2000, Makassarese had approximately 2.1 million native speakers.

Classification

Makassarese is an Austronesian language from the South Sulawesi branch of the Malayo-Polynesian subfamily,Template:Sfnp specifically the Makassaric group, which also includes both Highland and Coastal Konjo languages and the Selayar language.Template:Sfnp The Konjo and Selayar language varieties are sometimes considered dialects of Makassarese. As part of the South Sulawesi language family, Makassarese is also closely related to the Bugis, Mandar, and Toraja-Saʼdan languages.Template:Sfnp

In terms of vocabulary, Makassarese is considered the most distinct among the South Sulawesi languages. The average percentage of vocabulary similarity between Makassarese and other South Sulawesi languages is only 43%.Template:Sfnp Specifically, the Gowa or Lakiung dialect is the most divergent; the vocabulary similarity of this dialect with other South Sulawesi languages is about 5–10 percentage points lower compared to the vocabulary similarity of Konjo and Selayar with other South Sulawesi languages.Template:Sfnp However, etymostatistical analysis and functor statistics conducted by linguist Ülo Sirk shows a higher vocabulary similarity percentage (≥ 60%) between Makassarese and other South Sulawesi languages.Template:Sfnp These quantitative findings support qualitative analyses that place Makassarese as part of the South Sulawesi language family.

Dialect

File:Makassaric lexical similarity.svg

A diagram representing the lexical similarity between various languages/dialects within the Makassar/Makassarik subgroup, based on Grimes & Grimes (1987, data from Kaseng 1978) and Jukes (2006).

The language varieties within the Makassaric group form a dialect continuum. A language survey in South Sulawesi conducted by linguists and anthropologists Charles and Barbara Grimes separated the Konjo and Selayar languages from Makassarese. Meanwhile, a subsequent survey by linguists Timothy Friberg and Thomas Laskowske divided the Konjo language into three varieties: Coastal Konjo, Highland Konjo, and Bentong/Dentong.Template:Sfnp However, in a book on Makassarese grammar published by the Center for Language Development and Cultivation, local linguist Abdul Kadir Manyambeang and his team include the Konjo and Selayar varieties as dialects of Makassarese.Template:Sfnp

Excluding the Konjo and Selayar varieties, Makassarese can be divided into at least three dialects: the Gowa or Lakiung dialect, the Jeneponto or Turatea dialect, and the Bantaeng dialect.Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp The main differences among these varieties within the Makassar group lie in vocabulary; their grammatical structures are generally quite similar.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp Speakers of the Gowa dialect tend to switch to Indonesian when communicating with speakers of the Bantaeng dialect or with speakers of the Konjo and Selayar languages, and vice versa. The Gowa dialect is generally considered the prestige variety of Makassarese. As the dialect spoken in the central region, the Gowa dialect is also commonly used by speakers of other varieties within the Makassaric group.Template:Sfnp

Distribution

According to a demographic study based on the 2010 census data, about 1.87 million Indonesians over the age of five speak Makassarese as their mother tongue. Nationally, Makassarese ranks 16th among the 20 languages with the most speakers. Makassar is also the second most-spoken language in Sulawesi after Bugis, which has over 3.5 million speakers.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

The Makassarese language is primarily spoken by the Makassar people,Template:Sfnp although a small percentage (1.89%) of the Bugis people also use it as their mother tongue.Template:Sfnp Makassarese speakers are concentrated in the southwestern peninsula of South Sulawesi, particularly in the fertile coastal areas around Makassar, Gowa Regency, and Takalar Regency. The language is also spoken by some residents of Maros Regency and Pangkajene and Islands Regency to the north, alongside Bugis. Residents of Jeneponto and Bantaeng Regencies generally identify themselves as part of the Makassarese-speaking community, although the varieties they speak (the Jeneponto or Turatea dialect and the Bantaeng dialect) differ significantly from the dialects used in Gowa and Takalar. The closely related Konjo language is spoken in the mountainous areas of Gowa and along the coast of Bulukumba Regency, while the Selayar language is spoken on Selayar Island, to the south of the peninsula.

Due to Makassarese contact with Aboriginal peoples in Northern Australia, a pidgin of Makassarese was used as lingua franca across the region between different Aboriginal groups, though its use declined starting in the early 20th century due to Australian restrictions against Makassarese fishermen in the region and was supplanted by English as a lingua franca.Template:Sfnp

Current status

Makassarese is one of the relatively well-developed regional languages in Indonesia.Template:Sfnp It is still widely used in rural areas and parts of Makassar. Makassarese is also considered important as a marker of ethnic identity. However, in urban communities, code-switching or code-mixing between Makassar and Indonesian is common. Some urban Makassar residents, especially those from the middle class or with multiethnic backgrounds, also use Indonesian as the primary language in their households.Template:Sfnp Ethnologue classifies Makassar as a 6b (Threatened) language on the EGIDS scale, indicating that although the language is still commonly used in face-to-face conversations, the natural intergenerational transmission or teaching of the language is beginning to be disrupted.

Phonology

The following description of Makassarese phonology is based on Jukes (2005).

Vowels

Makassarese has five vowels: , , , , .Template:Sfnp The mid vowels are lowered to and in absolute final position and in the vowel sequences and .

Makassarese vowelsTemplate:Sfnp

	Front	Central	Back
Close	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Mid	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Open		Template:IPA link

The vowel phoneme tends to be realized as the open-mid vowel when it is at the end of a word or before a syllable containing the sound . Compare, for instance, the pronunciation of in the word 'already' with 'go to'.Template:Sfnp The phoneme also has an open-mid allophone [ɔ] when it is at the end of a word or precedes a syllable containing the sound [ɔ], as seen in the word 'big' (compare with 'heavy').Template:Sfnp Regardless of their position within a word, some speakers tend to pronounce these two vowels with a higher (closer) tongue position, making their pronunciation approach that of the phonemes and .Template:Sfnp

Vowels can be pronounced nasally when they are around nasal consonants within the same syllable. There are two levels of nasalization intensity for vowels: strong nasalization and weak nasalization. Weak nasalization can be found on vowels before nasal consonants that are not at the end of a word. Strong nasalization can be found on vowels before final nasal consonants or generally after nasal consonants. Nasalization can spread to vowels in syllables after nasal vowels if there are no consonants blocking it. However, the intensity of nasalization in vowels like this is not as strong as in the vowels before them, as in the pronunciation of the word 'there is'.Template:Sfnp

Consonants

There are 17 consonants in Makassarese, as outlined in the following table.

Makassarese consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link Template:AngbrTemplate:Efn	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr
Plosive	voiceless	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link Template:AngbrTemplate:Efn
	voiced	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link
Fricative			Template:IPA link			Template:IPA linkTemplate:Efn
Semivowel				Template:IPA link Template:Angbr	Template:IPA link
Lateral			Template:IPA link
Trill			Template:IPA link
Template:Notelist

Makassarese consonants except the glottal stop and voiced plosives can be geminated. Some instances of these might result from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian schwa phoneme * (now merged into ), which geminated the following consonant (*bəli > *bəlli > 'to buy, price' (compare Indonesian ), contrasting with 'to oppose').

The phoneme is the only consonant with a dental pronunciation, unlike the phonemes , which are alveolar consonants. The voiceless plosive phonemes are generally pronounced with slight aspiration (a flow of air), as in the words 'we', 'go', and 'say'. The phonemes and have implosive allophones and , especially in word-initial positions, such as in 'widow', and after the sound , as in 'to let hang'. These two consonants, especially in word-initial positions, can also be realized as voiceless consonants without aspiration. The palatal phoneme can be realized as an affricate (a stop sound with a release of fricative) or even . The phoneme can also be pronounced as an affricate . Jukes analyzes both of these consonants as stop consonants because they have palatal nasal counterparts , just as other oral stop consonants have their own nasal counterparts.

Phonotactics

The basic structure of syllables in Makassarese is (C₁)V(C₂). The position of C₁ can be filled by almost any consonant, while the position of C₂ has some limitations.Template:Sfnp In syllables located at the end of a morpheme, C₂ can be filled by a stop (T) or a nasal (N), the pronunciation of which is determined by assimilation rules. The sound T assimilates with (is pronounced the same as) voiceless consonants except , and is realized as in other contexts. The sound N is realized as a homorganic nasal (pronounced at the same articulation place) before a stop or nasal consonant, assimilates with the consonant's and , and is realized as in other contexts. On the other hand, in syllables within root forms, Makassarese contrasts an additional sound in the C₂ position besides K and N, which is . This analysis is based on the fact that Makassarese distinguishes between the sequences , , and across syllables. However, can also be considered as the realization of a geminate segment rather than a sequence across syllables.Template:Sfnp

CV patternsTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Efn

	V		o		'oh' (interjection)
	CV		ri		Template:Gcl (particle)
	VC		uʼ		'hair'
	CVC		piʼ		'birdlime'
	VV		io		'yes'
	VVC		aeng		'father'
	CVV		tau		'person'
	CVVC		taung		'year'
	VCVC		anaʼ		'child'
	CVCV		sala		'wrong'
	CVCVC		sabaʼ		'reason'
	CVCCVC		leʼbaʼ		'already'
	CVCVCV		binánga		'river'
	CVCVCVC		pásaraʼ		'market'
	CVCVCCV		kalúppa		'forget'
	CVCCVCVC		kaʼlúrung		'palm wood'
	CVCVCVCVC		balakeboʼ		'herring'
	CVCVCVCCVC		kalumanynyang		'rich'
Template:Notelist

The sounds can be categorized as non-nasal continuous (sounds produced without fully obstructing the flow of air through the mouth) consonants, and none of them can occupy the final position of a syllable except as part of a geminate consonant sequence.Template:Sfnp Basic words that actually end with these consonants will be appended with an epenthetic vowel identical to the vowel in the preceding syllable, and closed with a glottal stop ,Template:Sfnp as in the words 'rope', 'bottle', and 'mess, untidy'.Template:Sfnp This additional element is also referred to as the "VC-geminate" (echo-VC) sequence, and it can affect the position of stress within a word.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

Generally, base words in Makassarese consist of two or three syllables. However, longer words can be formed due to the agglutinative nature of Makassarese and the highly productive reduplication process.Template:Sfnp According to Jukes, words with six or seven syllables are commonly found in Makassarese, while base words with just one syllable (that are not borrowed from other languages) are very rare, although there are some interjections and particles consisting of only one syllable.Template:Sfnp

All consonants except for can appear in initial position. In final position, only and are found.

Consonant clusters only occur medially and (with one exception) can be analyzed as clusters of or + consonant. These clusters also arise through sandhi across morpheme boundaries.

	nasal/lateral					voiceless obstruents					voiced stops + Template:IPA link
	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Template:IPAslink
Template:IPAslink

The geminate cluster is only found in root-internal position and cannot be accounted for by the above rules.

Sequences of like vowels are contracted to a single vowel; e.g., 'to wash' + 'nominalizing suffix' > 'laundry', 'small' + 'third person' > 'it is small'.

Stress

The stress is generally placed on the penultimate (second-last) syllable of a base word. In reduplicated words, secondary stress will be placed on the first element, as in the word 'to fish (casually)'.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp Suffixes are generally counted as part of the phonological unit receiving stress, while enclitics are not counted (extrametrical). For example, the word 'strong', if the benefactive suffix is added, becomes 'stronger than' with stress on the penultimate syllable, but if given the first-person marker enclitic , it becomes 'I am strong', with stress on the antepenultimate syllable (third-last).Template:Sfnp

Other morphemes counted as part of the stress-bearing unit include the affixal clitic,Template:Efn marking possession, as in the word (buffalo=Template:Gcl.Template:Gcl) 'my buffalo'.Template:Sfnp Particularly for the definite marker , this morpheme is counted as part of the stress-bearing unit only if the base word it attaches to ends in a vowel, as in the word 'the stone'—compare with the stress pattern in 'the dog', where the base word ends in a consonant.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp A word can have stress on the preantepenultimate (fourth-last) syllable if a two-syllable enclitic combination such as (Template:Gcl , Template:Gcl ) is appended; e.g., 'go up!'Template:Sfnp The stress position can also be influenced by the process of vocalic degemination, where identical vowels across morphemes merge into one. For example, the word 'walk', when the suffix -ang is added, becomes 'to walk with', with stress on the ultimate (last) syllable.Template:Sfnp

The stress on base words with VC-geminate always falls on the antepenultimate syllable; for example, 'layer', 'bottle', 'market', and 'Makassar', because syllables with VK-geminate are extrametrical.Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp However, the addition of suffixes and will remove this epenthetic syllable and move the stress to the penultimate position, as in the word 'to layer'. Adding the possessive clitic suffix also shifts the stress to the penultimate position but does not remove this epenthetic syllable, as in the word 'its bottle'. Meanwhile, the addition of the definite marker and enclitics neither remove nor alter the stress position of this syllable, as in the words 'that market' and 'I'm going to the market'.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

Grammar

Pronouns

Personal pronouns in the Makassar language have three forms, namely:

• free forms;
• proclitics that cross-reference S and P arguments ('absolutive');
• and enclitics that cross-reference A arguments ('ergative').

The following table shows these three forms of pronouns along with possessive markers for each series.

Personal pronounsTemplate:Sfnp

	Free pronouns (Template:Gcl)	Proclitic (Template:Gcl)	Enclitic (Template:Gcl)	Possessive marker (Template:Gcl)
Template:Gcl
Template:Gcl.Template:Gcl/Template:Gcl
Template:Gcl.Template:Gcl	†	—	*	†
Template:Gcl
Template:Gcl

The first person plural inclusive pronouns are also used to refer to the second person plural and serve as a form of respect for the second person singular. The first person plural pronoun series is commonly used to refer to the first person plural in modern Makassar; pronouns and possessive marker are considered archaic, while the enclitic can only appear in combination with clitic markers of modality and aspect, such as (Template:Gcl , Template:Gcl.Template:Gcl ).Template:Sfnp The plural meaning can be expressed more clearly by adding the word 'all' after the free form, as in 'they all' and 'you all',Template:Sfnp or before the enclitic, as in 'they all'. However, cannot be paired with proclitics.

Proclitic and enclitic forms are the most common pronominal forms used to refer to the person or object being addressed (see the #Basic Clauses section for examples of their use). Free forms are less frequently used; their use is generally limited to presentative clauses (clauses that state or introduce something, see example 1), for emphasis (2), in prepositional phrases functioning as arguments or adjuncts (3), and as predicates (4).Template:Sfnp

Nouns and noun phrases

Characteristics and types of nouns

Nouns in Makassarese are a class of words that can function as arguments for a predicate, allowing them to be cross-referenced by pronominal clitics.Template:Sfnp Nouns can also serve as the head of a noun phrase (including relative clauses). In possessive constructions, nouns can act as either the possessor or the possessed; an affixal clitic will be attached to the possessed noun phrase. The indefiniteness of a noun can be expressed by the affixal clitic . Uninflected nouns can also function as predicates in a sentence. All of these main points are illustrated in the following example:Template:Sfnp

In addition, nouns can also be specified by demonstratives, modified by adjectives, quantified by numerals, become complements in prepositional phrases, and become verbs meaning 'wear/use [the noun in question]' when affixed with the prefix .Template:Sfnp

Nouns that are usually affixed with the definite clitic and possessive markers are common nouns.Template:Sfnp On the other hand, proper nouns such as place names, personal names, and titles (excluding kinship terms) are usually not affixed with definiteness and possessive markers but can be paired with the personal prefix like pronouns.Template:Sfnp

Some common nouns are generic nouns that often become the core of a compound word, such as the words 'water', 'excrement', and 'child'.Template:Sfnp Examples of compound words derived from these generic nouns are 'drinking water', 'wax, beeswax' (literal meaning: 'bee excrement'), and 'daughter'.Template:Sfnp Kinship terms that are commonly used as greetings are also classified as common nouns, such as the words 'father', 'mother', and 'sibling'.Template:Sfnp Another example is the word which is used as a polite greeting in general, or by a wife to her husband.

The other main noun group is temporal nouns, which usually appear after prepositions in adjunct constructions to express time.Template:Sfnp Examples of temporal nouns are clock times (such as '5.00 [five o'clock]'), estimated times based on divisions of the day (such as 'morning'), days of the week, as well as dates, months, and seasons.Template:Sfnp

Derived noun

Derived nouns in Makassarese are formed through several productive morphological processes, such as reduplication and affixation with , , and , either individually or in combination.Template:Sfnp The following table illustrates some common noun formation processes in Makassarese:Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

Formation of derived nouns

Process		Productive meanings	Samples	Note
reduplication		diminution or imitation	'people' →  'statue, doll'	Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp
suffix	Template:Gcl	actor, creator, or user	'horse' →  'rider';  'gamble' →  'gambler'	Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp
	Template:GclTemplate:Efn	instrument	'ask' →  'question';  'point' →  'index finger, pointer'	Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp
	Template:GclTemplate:Efn	instrument	'fortifiying' →  'tonic, fortifying medicine or drink'	Template:Sfnp
	Template:Gcl	place or time	'bathe' →  'bathing place, bathtime';  'eat' →  'plate'	Template:Sfnp
	paK>Template:GclTemplate:Efn	someone who is easily Template:Gcl, inclined to be Template:Gcl	'sick' →  'sickly person'	Template:Sfnp
confix ...	Template:Gcl	Template:Gcl-ness	'bad' →  'badness'	Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp
	Template:Gcl	peak of Template:Gcl	'strong' →  'greatest strength'Template:Efn	Template:Sfnp
	Template:Gcl	state or process	'come' →  'arrival'	Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp
suffix		instrument	'carry on shoulders' →  'sedan chair'	Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

There are some exceptions to the general patterns described above. For example, reduplication of the word 'worm' to results in a broadening of meaning to 'animal'.Template:Sfnp The affixation of to a verb base does not always indicate an instrument or tool, for example 'breath, character, heart' (as in the phrase 'big-hearted') which is derived from the word 'to breathe'.Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp The affixation of to the verb base 'to give birth' results in the word meaning 'family', although it is possible that this word was originally a metaphor ('place to have children').Template:Sfnp

Noun phrase

The components of noun phrases in the Makassarese can be categorized into three groups, namely 1) head, 2) specifier, and 3) modifier.Template:Sfnp

Modifying elements always follow the head noun-they may be of various types:Template:Sfnp

• modifying nouns, such as 'wild boar' (lit. pig forest)Template:Sfnp
• adjectives, such as 'big fish'Template:Sfnp
• modifying verbs, such as 'airplane' (lit. flying ship)Template:Sfnp
• possessors, such as 'Ali's buffalo'Template:Sfnp
• relative clausesTemplate:Sfnp

In Makassarese, relative clauses are placed directly after the head noun without any special marker (unlike Indonesian, which requires a word like '' before the relative clause). The verb within the relative clause is marked with the definite marker .Template:Sfnp

Verb

Basic clause

Intransitive clauses

In Makassarese intransitive clauses, the 'absolutive' enclitic (=Template:Gcl) is used to cross-reference the sole argument in the clause (S) if that argument is definite or salient according to the conversational context. This enclitic tends to be attached to the first constituent in a clause. The prefix is commonly used to form intransitive verbs, although some verbs like tinro 'sleep' do not require this prefix.Template:Sfnp

Many other types of phrases may head intransitive clauses, for example nominals (13) and pronoun (example (4) above), adjectives (14), or a prepositional phrase (15): Template:Interlinear Template:Interlinear Template:Interlinear

Transitive clauses

Verbs in transitive clauses are not affixed, but instead are marked with a pronominal proclitic indicating the A or actor and a pronominal enclitic indicating the P or undergoer.Template:Sfnp

Writing systems

File:Makassar Script alphabet.png

1. Makasar script; 2. Lontara script; 3. Serang script; 4. Latin script

Although Makassarese is now often written in Latin script, Makassarese has been traditionally written with Lontara script and Makasar script, which once was used also to write important documents in Bugis and Mandar, two related languages from Sulawesi. Further, Makassarese was written in the Serang script, a variant of the Arabic-derived Jawi script. Texts written in the Serang script are relatively rare, and mostly appear in connection with Islam-related topics. Parts of the Makassar Annals, the chronicles of the Gowa and Tallo' kingdoms, were also written using the Serang script.

Latin based system

The current Latin-based forms:

Majuscule forms (uppercase)
A	B	C	D	E	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	NgTemplate:Efn-lr	NyTemplate:Efn-lr	O	P	R	S	T	U	W	Y	(ʼ)Template:Efn-lr
Minuscule forms (lowercase)
a	b	c	d	e	g	h	i	j	k	l	m	n	ngTemplate:Efn-lr	nyTemplate:Efn-lr	o	p	r	s	t	u	w	y	(ʼ)Template:Efn-lr
IPA
Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link, Template:IPA linkTemplate:Efn-lr	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Template:Notelist-lr

Comparison of Makassarese orthography

	u	c	ɟ	ŋ	ɲ	-ʔ	(stressed vowels)
Matthes (1859)	oe	t͠j	d͠j	n͠g	n͠j	◌́, ◌̉	◌̂
Cense (1979)	u	tj	dj	ŋ	ñ	-ʼ	◌̀
Indonesian based (1975)	u	c	j	ng	ny	-k	(not written)
Locally preferred	u	c	j	ng	ny	-ʼ

Old Makassar and Lontara script

File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Gedeelte van het dagboek van de Vorsten van Gowa in oud Makassaarschrift TMnr 668-216.jpg

Sample of a handwritten book, written in Makassarese using the Makasar script, of a diary of the Princes of the Sultanate of Gowa. The passimbang punctuation signs, typical of this script, are drawn and colored in red, as well as a few proper names and some inserts in Arabic.

Makassarese was historically written using Makasar script (also known as "Old Makassarese" or "Makassarese bird script" in English-language scholarly works). In Makassarese the script is known as or ('bird letters'). It was used for official purposes in the kingdoms of Makasar in the 17th century but ceased to be used by the 19th century, being replaced by Lontara script.

In spite of their quite distinctive appearance, both the Makasar and Lontara scripts are derived from the ancient Brahmi script of India. Like other descendants of that script, each consonant has an inherent vowel "a", which is not marked. Other vowels can be indicated by adding diacritics above, below, or on either side of each consonant.

Base consonant letters

	ka	ga	nga	pa	ba	ma	ta	da	na	ca	ja	nya	ya	ra	la	wa	sa	a	ha
Old Makassarese	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	- (Template:ScriptTemplate:Efn-lr)
Lontara script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script	Template:Script
Template:Notelist-lr

Ambiguity

Both scripts do not have a virama or other ways to write syllable codas in a consistent manner, even though codas occur regularly in Makassar. For example, in Makassar is baba Template:Script which can correspond to six possible words: baba, babaʼ, baʼba, baʼbaʼ, bamba, and bambang.Template:Sfn

Given that Lontara script is also traditionally written without word breaks, a typical text often has many ambiguous portions which can often only be disambiguated through context. This ambiguity is analogous to the use of Arabic letters without vowel markers; readers whose native language use Arabic characters intuitively understand which vowels are appropriate in a given sentence so that vowel markers are not needed in standard everyday texts.

Even so, sometimes even context is not sufficient. In order to read a text fluently, readers may need substantial prior knowledge of the language and contents of the text in question. As an illustration, Cummings and Jukes provide the following example to illustrate how the Lontara script can produce different meanings depending on how the reader cuts and fills in the ambiguous part:

Lontara script	Possible reading
	Latin	Meaning
Template:ScriptTemplate:Sfn	aʼbétai	he won (intransitive)
	ambetái	he beat... (transitive)
Template:ScriptTemplate:Sfn	nakanrei pepeʼ ballaʼ datoka	fire devouring a temple
	nakanrei pepe' Balanda tokkaʼ	fire devouring a bald Hollander
Template:Script	pepe	mute
	pepeʼ	fire
	pempeng	stuck together
	peppeʼ	hit

Without knowing the actual event to which the text may be referring, it can be impossible for first time readers to determine the "correct" reading of the above examples. Even the most proficient readers may need to pause and re-interpret what they have read as new context is revealed in later portions of the same text.Template:Sfn Due to this ambiguity, some writers such as Noorduyn labelled Lontara as a defective script.Template:Sfn

Serang script

After Islam arrived in 1605, and with Malay traders using the Arabic-based Jawi script, Makassarese could also be written using Arabic letters. This was called 'serang' and was better at capturing the spoken language than the original Makassarese scripts because it could show consonants at the ends of syllables. But it wasn't widely used, with only a few surviving manuscripts. One key example is the diary of the Gowa and Tallo' courts, translated from serang into Dutch. However, Arabic script is commonly found in manuscripts to write Islamic names, dates, and religious ideas.Template:Sfn

Additional letters compared to Arabic

Sound	Isolated form	Final form	Medial form	Initial form	Name
	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	ca
	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	nga
	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	gapu
	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	Template:Script/Arabic	nya

Sample text

Sample text
Old Makassar script	Template:Script
Lontara script	Template:Script
Serang script	Template:Script/Arabic
Latin Script	Nisuromi malaekaka anngukiriki arenna, siagáng empoanna kamateanna, siagáng lanri kamateanna, na naerammo malaekaka mange ri Malakulmauti.
Translation	The malāʾikah were ordered to record his name, the circumstances of his death, and the cause of his death, then the malāʾikah took him to Malak al-Mawt.

Some common words and phrases in the Makassarese language, transcribed in the Latin script, are as follows (Template:Angbr represents the glottal stop).

Writing system examples

Lontara	Romanized	Indonesian	Translation
			people
			bat
			name
			child
	, , , ,		one, two, three, four, five
		,	female, woman, wife
		,	male, man, husband
		,	excuse me, sorry
, ,	, ,		none, nothing
			already
			welcome
			how are you?
			I am fine
			what's your name?
	, ,		where are you going?
			where do you live?
			how old are you?
			have a safe trip
			goodbye
			it depends on you

See also

• Makassan contact with Australia

External links

• Lontara Alphabet in Unicode