Tabaru language
| Tabaru | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Indonesia |
| Region | Halmahera |
Native speakers | (15,000 cited 1991)[1] |
West Papuan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tby |
| Glottolog | taba1263 |
Tabaru is a North Halmahera language of Indonesia.
Phonology
Vowels
Tabaru has a simple five vowel system: a, e, i, o, u.[2]
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | c | k | |
| voiced | b | d | ɟ | ɡ | ||
| Fricative | f | s | h | |||
| Semivowel | j | w | ||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Trill | r | |||||
Syllable structure and stress
On the surface level, Tabaru only allows syllables of the type (C)V. Words with an underlying final consonant add an echo vowel: ngówaka (/ngowak/) ′child′, ókere (/oker/) ′drink′, sárimi (/sarim/) ′paddle′, ódomo (/odom/) ′eat′, pálusu (/palus/) ′answer′. The echo vowel is dropped when a suffix is added: woísene (/woisen/) ′hear′, but woisenoka (/woisen/ + /oka/) ′heard′. Stress regularly falls on the penultimate syllable, but shifts to the antepenultimate when the word takes an echo vowel.
References
- ^ Tabaru at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Fortgens, J. (1928). Grammatikale aanteekeningen van het Tabaroesch, Tabaroesche volksverhalen en raadsels. Bijdragen Tot De Taal-, Land- En Volkenkunde Van Nederlandsch-Indië, 84(2/3), 300-544.
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