Kedang language explained

Kedang
States:	Indonesia
Region:	eastern Lembata
Speakers:	30,000
Date:	2008 census
Ref:	e18
Familycolor:	Austronesian
Fam3:	Central–Eastern
Fam4:	Flores–Lembata
Iso3:	ksx
Glotto:	keda1252
Glottorefname:	Kedang

Kédang (Kdang, Dang, Kedangese) is a language spoken in the Kedang region on the north coast of Lembata Island, east of Flores, in Indonesia. The language belongs to the Austronesian family and its sub-family, Malayo-Polynesian.^[1] More specifically, the language is within the Flores-Lembata sub-group. There are approximately 30,000 speakers of the language.

Background

The name of the language is also the name of the region where the language is spoken, Kedang. The region ranges to about 266 square kilometres including two administrative areas – Omesuri and Buyasuri. As of today, there are approximately about 30,000 speakers of the language. The majority of the speakers is engaged in agricultural productions which are mainly farming and fishing. Most speakers are Catholic or Muslim but a few may still retain their traditional spiritual beliefs.^[2]

Phonology

Vowels

Kédang has a total of twelve vowels in its language, separated into two sets evenly with six vowels per set. One set is composed of modal vowels or also known as normal vowels while the other set is breathy vowels. The vowels can be distinct by two different methods: by the word initial position and by the pitch. Modal vowels (normal vowels) occur in the middle and the final position while breathy vowels do not. While the breathy vowels are pronounced at a lower pitch.

Consonants

There are twenty consonants in the Kédang alphabet. The consonants display different manners of articulation including plosives, nasals, lateral, flap, trill, fricatives and continuant.

Word classes

Kédang developed its word classes to include nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, numerals, prepositions, interjections, conjunctions and classifiers.

Nouns

Nouns are formed when affixes are added to the verbs. Kédang's affixes are the nominalizing prefix N-, the nominalizing infix -an-, the suffix -n and the free form wala.

• The nominalizing prefix N- replaces the initial consonant. For example:
  • t → n '''t'''adaq 'to advise' → '''n'''adaq 'advice'
  • k → n '''k'''ariq 'to speak' → '''n'''ariq 'language'
• The nominalizing infix -an- is added after the initial consonant. For example:
  • kawang 'to flow' → ka'''na'''wang 'current'
  • tangul 'to cover a pot with a lid' → ta'''na'''ngul 'lid'
• The suffix -n is added to verbs and adjectives at the end of the words. For example:
  • dei 'to follow' → dei'''n''' 'offspring'
  • mate 'dead' → mate'''n''' 'corpse'
• The free form wala follows after a verb to indicate the person who is acting out the verb. For examples:
  • durung 'to sell' → durung '''wala''' 'seller'
  • huang 'to play' → huang '''wala''' 'player'

Pronouns

Kédang's pronouns follow the three-way system of singular-dual-plural. They are divided into seven categories: personal, emphatic, possessive, emphatic-possessive, adessive, agent focus and action focus.

	Personal		Emphatic	Possessive	Emphatic-Possessive		Adessive	Agent Focus	Action Focus
	Subjective	Objective			Subjective	Objective
Person
1st singular	^>ei, ^>eqi	^>eqi	ko	koq	koqo	koqi	^>eko	eti	èrèg
2nd singular	o	o	mo	moq	moqo	meqi	omo	oti	mèrèq
3rd singular	nuo, ni	nuo	ne	neq	neqe	neqi	nene	neti	nèrèq
1st plural exclusive(exclude the addressee(s))	e, ke	e	ke	keq	keqe	keqi	eke	keti	mèrèq
1st plural inclusive (include the addressee(s))	te	te	te	teq	teqe	teqi	tete	teti	tèrèq
2nd plural	me	me	me	meq	meqe	meqi	meme	meti	mèrèq
3rd plural	suo, se	suo	se	seq	seqe	seqi	sese	seti	sèrèq

Adjectives

Kédang adjectives are divided into two functions: predicative and attributive. In order to distinguish these two functions, a suffix -n is added after the end vowel of a predicative adjective for it to become attributive. If the adjective ends with a consonant, there will be no change.

	Predicative	Attributive
'wet'	baha	baha'''n'''
'alive'	bita	bita'''n'''
'sour'	kiru	kiru'''n'''
'new'	werun	'''werun'''
'red'	korong	'''korong'''
'shy'	iwiq	'''iwiq'''

Verbs

There is only one verb tense in Kédang that is fully developed – future tense. The other tenses usually require an adverb that indicates time (past, present or future) to support the content along with the verb used.

Future Tense ('will')
		Singular	Plural
Person
1st exclusive(exclude addressee(s))		ena	kena
1st inclusive (including addressee(s))			tena
2nd		ona	mena
3rd		nena	sena

References

• Book: Samely. Ursula. Kedang (Eastern Indonesia): some aspects of its grammar. 1991. Buske. Hamburg. 3875480163.
• Book: Samely . Ursula . A Dictionary of the Kedang Language: Kedang-Indonesian-English . Barnes . Robert H. . 2013 . Brill . Leiden . 978-9004256361 .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Kedang . 2016-09-12.
2. Book: Weekes, Richard V. . Muslim Peoples [2 Volumes]

   A World Ethnographic Survey ]

   . 1984 . Bloomsbury Academic . 978-0-313-23392-0 . 399 . en.