Southeast Babar language

Southeast Babar is an Austronesian language spoken on Babar Island in South Maluku, Indonesia.[2]

Southeast Babar
Native toIndonesia
RegionMaluku
Native speakers
4,500 (2007)[1]
Austronesian
Language codes
ISO 639-3vbb
Glottologsout2883

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Dorsal
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced b d (ɡ)
Nasal m n (ŋ)
Fricative (f) (s) x
Trill r
Lateral l
Approximant w j
  • Sounds /ɡ s ŋ/ only occur in loanwords.
  • /f/ is only attested in loanwords and also infrequently in roots.

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid ɛ ɔ
Open a
  • /ɛ, ɔ/ are heard as more closed [e, o] when occurring before glides /w, j/.[3]

References
  1. Southeast Babar at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Taber, Mark (1993). "Toward a better understanding of the Indigenous Languages of Southwestern Maluku". Oceanic Linguistics. 32 (2): 389–441. JSTOR 3623199.
  3. Steinhauer, Hein (2009). The sounds of Southeast Babar. Adelaar, K. Alexander and Pawley, Andrew (eds.), Austronesian historical linguistics and culture history: a festschrift for Robert Blust: Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. pp. 399–409.

Further reading
  • Hein Steinhauer. 2009. The sounds of Southeast Babar. In Adelaar, K. Alexander and Pawley, Andrew (eds.), Austronesian historical linguistics and culture history: a festschrift for Robert Blust, 399-409. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
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