| Dhao | |
| Nativename: | Ndao |
| Pronunciation: | pronounced as /ˈɖ͡ʐao/ |
| Region: | Lesser Sunda Islands |
| States: | Indonesia |
| Speakers: | 5,000 |
| Date: | 1997 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Austronesian |
| Fam3: | Sumba–Flores? |
| Fam5: | Savu |
| Script: | Latin |
| Iso3: | nfa |
| Glotto: | dhao1237 |
| Glottorefname: | Dhao |
| Notice: | IPA |
| Coordinates: | -10.8167°N 162°W |
| Pushpin Map: | Indonesia Lesser Sunda Islands#Indonesia |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Ndao island, where Dhao is spoken. |
| Pushpin Label: | Ndao island |
The Dhao language, better known to outsiders by its Rotinese name Uncoded languages: '''Ndao''' (Ndaonese, Ndaundau), is the language of Ndao Island in Indonesia. Traditionally classified as a Sumba language in the Austronesian family, it may actually be a non-Austronesian (Papuan) language.[1] It was once considered a dialect of Hawu, but is not mutually intelligible.
Dhao phonology is similar to that of Hawu, but somewhat more complex in its consonants.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Pharyngeal | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Plosive | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| implosive | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Fricative | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Affricate | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Approximant | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | |||||
Consonants of the pronounced as //n// column are apical, those of the pronounced as //ɲ// column laminal. pronounced as //f w j// are found in Malay loan words. In a practical orthography developed for writing the language, implosives are written, the affricates (the dh is slightly retroflex), and the voiced glottal onset as a double vowel. The pronounced as //ʕ// is sometimes silent, but contrasts with a glottal stop onset in vowel-initial words within a phrase. Its phonemic status is not clear. It has an "extremely limited distribution", linking noun phrases (pronounced as //ʔiki// 'small', pronounced as //ʔana ʕiki// 'small child') and clauses (pronounced as //ʕaa// 'and', pronounced as //ʕoo// 'also').
Vowels are pronounced as //i u e ə o a//, with pronounced as //ə// written . Phonetic long vowels and diphthongs are vowel sequences. The penultimate syllable/vowel is stressed. (Every vowel constitutes a syllable.)
pronounced as //ŋe/ [ŋe]/ 'this.', pronounced as //neʔe/ [ˈneʔe]/ 'this', pronounced as //ŋaŋee/ [ŋaˈŋeː]/ 'thinking', pronounced as //ŋali/ [ˈŋali]/ 'senile', pronounced as //ŋəlu/ [ˈŋəlːu]/ 'wind'.
A stressed schwa lengthens the following consonant: pronounced as //meda/ [ˈmeda]/ 'yesterday', pronounced as //məda/ [ˈmədːa]/ 'night'.
Syllables are consonant-vowel or vowel-only.
f, q, v, w, x, y and z are only used in loanwords and foreign names.
Dhao has a nominative–accusative subject–verb–object word order, unlike Hawu. Within noun phrases, modifiers follow the noun. There are a set of independent pronouns, and also a set of pronominal clitics.
| Pronoun | Independent | Clitic | |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | ja’a | ku | |
| thou | èu | mu | |
| s/he | nèngu | na (ne) | |
| we (inclusive) | èdhi | ti | |
| we (exclusive) | ji’i | nga | |
| y'all | miu | mi | |
| they | rèngu | ra (si) |
Demonstratives distinguish proximal (here, now, this), distal (there, then, that), and remote (yonder, yon).
| Demonstrative | Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proximal | ne'e, ne | se'e, se | |
| Distal | èèna, na | sèra, sa | |
| Remote | nèi, ni | sèi, si |