South Sulawesi languages explained

South Sulawesi
Region:	Indonesia (Sulawesi, West Kalimantan)
Familycolor:	Austronesian
Fam2:	Malayo-Polynesian
Child1:	Bugis–Tamanic
Child2:	Makassar
Child3:	Lemolang
Child4:	Seko
Child5:	Northern
Protoname:	Proto-South Sulawesi
Glotto:	sout2923
Glottorefname:	South Sulawesi
Map:	South Sulawesi languages.svg
Mapcaption:	Map showing the distribution of the South Sulawesi languages in Sulawesi and Kalimantan

The South Sulawesi languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian language family. They are primarily spoken in the Indonesian provinces of South Sulawesi and West Sulawesi, with a small outlying pocket in West Kalimantan.

Subgrouping

Internal classification

This classification follows Grimes & Grimes (1987) and the Ethnologue.^[1]

• South Sulawesi
  • Bugis
    • Buginese
      • Buginese
      • Campalagian
    • Tamanic
      • Embaloh
      • Taman
  • Makassar
    • Bentong
    • Coastal Konjo
    • Highland Konjo
    • Makassarese
    • Selayar
  • Seko
    • Budong-Budong
    • Panasuan
    • Seko Padang
    • Seko Tengah
  • Lemolang
  • Northern
    • Mamuju
    • Mandar
    • Massenrempulu
      • Duri
      • Enrekang
      • Malimpung
      • Maiwa
    • Pitu Ulunna Salu
      • Aralle-Tabulahan
      • Dakka
      • Pannei
      • Bambam
      • Ulumanda’
    • Toraja
      • Kalumpang
      • Tae’
      • Mamasa (including Pattae', Central Mamasa, and Northern Mamasa)
      • Toraja-Sa’dan
      • Talondo’

The position of the Tamanic languages, spoken in West Borneo, was unclear until the end of the last century. The Dutch linguist K.A. Adelaar showed that they are especially close to Buginese and thus can be included in the South Sulawesi subgroup.

Zobel (2020) also classifies the Badaic languages with Seko as part of a Seko–Badaic group within the South Sulawesi branch.^[2]

Notes: Italic writing indicates it is considered a dialect and not a separate language.

Position within Austronesian

At the current state of research, the South Sulawesi languages are considered to make up a primary branch of the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup within the Austronesian language family.

South Sulawesi influence in Malagasy

Adelaar (1995) suggested that the vocabulary of Malagasy, next to its basic stratum inherited from Barito and loanwords from Malay, also contains many words that are of South Sulawesi origin. Further evidence was presented by Blench (2018).

Reconstruction

Proto-South Sulawesi
Region:	Sulawesi
Familycolor:	Austronesian
Ancestor:	Proto-Austronesian
Ancestor2:	Proto-Malayo-Polynesian
Target:	South Sulawesi languages

Proto-South Sulawesi (PSS) has been reconstructed by Mills (1975a, 1975b).

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ	u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

The Proto-South-Sulawesi vowel *ɨ is a reflex of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP) *ə. It is only preserved in Buginese, in all other languages it mostly became a (but under certain circumstances also i, u, e, and rarely o).

The main sources of the mid vowels are PMP *-iq/*-ay, which became *e, and *-uq/*-aw, which became *o, e.g.

PMP Uncoded languages: *putiq > PSS Uncoded languages: *pute 'white'

PMP Uncoded languages: *matay > PSS Uncoded languages: *mate 'dead'

PMP Uncoded languages: *suluq > PSS Uncoded languages: *sulo 'torch'

PMP Uncoded languages: *pisaw > PSS Uncoded languages: *piso 'knife'

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Stop	voiceless	p	t	c	k
	voiced	b	d	j	g
Fricative	voiceless		s
	voiced			z	ɣ
Nasal		m	n	ñ	ŋ
Lateral			l
Trill			r
Approximant		w		y

The velar fricative *ɣ only appears in final position as a reflex of PMP *R, while *z only is found in medial position as a reflex of PMP *j.

See also

• Languages of Sulawesi
• Celebic languages

References

Bibliography

• Book: Adelaar, K. A. . Language Contact and Change in the Austronesian World . Mouton de Gruyter . 1994 . Dutton . Tom . Berlin . 1–42 . The Classification of the Tamanic Languages . Tryon . Darrell T. . en.
• Adelaar . Alexander . 1995 . Asian Roots of the Malagasy: A Linguistic Perspective . Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde . 151 . 3 . 325–356 . 10.1163/22134379-90003036 . 27864676 . free . en.
  • Book: Grimes, C. E. . Languages of South Sulawesi . Grimes . B. E. . Australian National University . 1987 . 0858833522 . Pacific Linguistics Series D – No. 78 . Canberra . 10.15144/PL-D78 . registration . free . en.
• Mills . Roger Frederick . Proto South Sulawesi and Proto Austronesian Phonology . 1975a . Ph.D. dissertation . University of Michigan . 2027.42/157431 . en.
• Mills . Roger Frederick . 1975b . The Reconstruction of Proto-South-Sulawesi . Archipel . 10 . 1 . 205–224 . 10.3406/arch.1975.1250 . en.
• Smith . Alexander D. . The Western Malayo-Polynesian Problem . 2017 . Oceanic Linguistics . 56 . 2 . 435–490 . 10.1353/ol.2017.0021 . en.

Further reading

• Book: Friberg, Barbara . 1991 . Ergativity, Focus and Verb Morphology in Several South Sulawesi Languages . Harlow . Ray . VICAL 2: Western Austronesian and Ccontact Languages, Parts I and II: Papers from the Fifth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics . Auckland . Linguistic Society of New Zealand . en.

External links

• South Sulawesi at Ethnologue (23rd ed., 2020).
• Classification of Sulawesi Languages

Notes and References

1. https://www.ethnologue.com/subgroups/south-sulawesi South Sulawesi
2. Zobel . Erik . 2020 . The Kaili–Wolio Branch of the Celebic Languages . Oceanic Linguistics . 59 . 1/2 . 297–346 . 10.1353/ol.2020.0014 . en.