Bulungan language

Bulungan
Native toIndonesia
RegionNorth Kalimantan
EthnicityBulungan
Native speakers
30,000 (2002)
Language codes
ISO 639-3blj
Glottologbolo1268

Bulungan (also known as Bolongan and Bulongan, both are archaic), is an Austronesian language spoken in Bulungan Regency, North Kalimantan. The language was the court language of the Bulungan Sultanate. The classification of this language is not clear. Glottolog places it in the Sabahan group.

Geographic distribution

The Bulungan language is predominantly spoken in eight villages in Bulungan Regency, namely:

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ⟨ny⟩ ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Stop Voiceless p t c k ʔ ⟨q⟩
Voiced b d ɟ ⟨j⟩ ɡ ⟨g⟩
Fricative s h
Lateral l
Trill ʀ ⟨r⟩
Semivowel w j ⟨y⟩

Consonants /f/, /z/, and /h/ are restricted to loan words, and the first two could be respectively substituted with [p] and [s]. The last of three, however, has been dropped during the course of its history (atay ('liver') vs. Indonesian hati). The phoneme /k/ does not exist in the final position, and instead replaced by a glottal stop (/ʔ/), as in sigoq ('happy').

Vowels

Vowels
Front Central Back
High i u
Mid e ⟨é⟩ ə ⟨e⟩ o
Low a

There are three diphthongs in Bulungan, all of them only occur word-finally, namely /aj/, /aw/, and /uj/.

Stress

Words are stressed on the penultimate syllable, regardless of its structure: mendus 'to bath', mendusna 'go bath now!'.

References

  1. ↑ Bulungan at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ↑ "Glottolog 4.5 - Bolongan". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2022-01-09.
  3. ↑ "Unclassified". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2022-01-09.
  4. ↑ Arifin, M. Bahri; Rijal, Syamsul (2019). Bahasa Daerah di Kalimantan Utara. Yogyakarta: Istana Agency. ISBN 978-623-7313-24-3.
  5. ↑ Adul 1985, p. 23.
  6. ↑ Adul 1985, p. 21.
  7. ↑ Adul 1985, p. 26.
  8. ↑ Adul 1985, p. 22.
  9. ↑ Adul 1985, p. 24.
  10. ↑ Adul 1985, p. 31.

Sources