Mamasa language

Mamasa
Native toIndonesia
RegionWest Sulawesi
EthnicityMamasa
Pattae' (dialect speaker of Pattae')
Native speakers
89,000 (2010 Census)
Dialects
Language codes
ISO 639-3mqj
Glottologmama1276
Map showing the distribution of the South Sulawesi languages in Sulawesi and Kalimantan, Mamasa language in number 28.

Mamasa is an Austronesian language spoken in West Sulawesi, Indonesia. This language is the native language of the Mamasa people which is related to the Toraja people.

Dialects

Three dialects can be distinguished:

Speakers of Pattae' are a culturally distinct ethnic group traditionally more affiliated to the Mandar people than to speakers of the Northern and Central Mamasa dialects in the interior, and for that reason Pattae' is considered by its speakers to be a language separate from Mamasa proper (i.e. Northern and Central Mamasa).

Phonology

Mamasa has the following consonants and vowels:

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive voiceless p t k ʔ
voiced b d g
Fricative s
Lateral l
Trill r
Semivowel w j
Vowels
Front Central Back
High i u
Mid e o
Low a

References

  1. ↑ Mamasa at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ↑ "The Mamasa Language". Sulawesi Language Alliance. Archived from the original on 14 December 2017. Retrieved 14 Dec 2017.
  3. ↑ Smith, Beverly Kean (1993). A Phonological Reconstruction of Proto-Pitu Ulunna Salu (M.A. thesis). University of Texas at Arlington. OCLC 840034799.

Further reading