Sawai language
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Sawai (also Weda) is a South Halmahera-Western New Guinea language of Austronesian stock spoken in Weda and Gane Timor districts of southern Halmahera, northern Maluku Providence, Indonesia. There are approximately 12,000 speakers.
Sounds
Below is description of the Kobe dialect of Sawai spoken in the villages of Lelilef Woyebulan and Kobe Peplis.
Consonants
Sewai has 14 consonants:
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p b | t d | k ɡ | ||
| Fricative | f | s | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||
| Approximant | central | w | j | ||
| lateral | l | ||||
Vowels
Sawai has 7 vowels:
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i | u |
| High-Mid | e | o |
| Low-Mid | ɛ | ɔ |
| Low | a | |
Syllable
Sawai has the following syllable structure:
- (C)(C)V(C)
| word | gloss | syllable type |
|---|---|---|
| 's/he/it' | V | |
| 'fish' | VC | |
| 'alcoholic drink' | CV | |
| 's/he/it gives' | CCV | |
| 'magic statue' | CVC | |
| 's/he/it goes' | CCVC |
External links
- [Sawai] (Ethnologue)
Bibliography
- Burquest, Donald A.; & Laidig, Wyn D. (Eds.). (1992). Phonological studies in four languages of Maluku. The Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington publications in linguistics (No. 108). Dallas: The Summer Institute of Linguistics, The University of Texas at Arlington, and Pattimura University. ISBN 0-88312-803-9.
- Whistler, Ronald. (1992). Phonology of Sawai. In D. A. Burquest & W. D. Laidig (Eds.), Phonological studies in four languages of Maluku (pp. 7-32). Dallas: The Summer Institute of Linguistics, The University of Texas at Arlington, and Pattimura University.
- Whisler, Ronald; & Whisler, Jacqui. (1995). Sawai: Introduction and wordlist. In D. T. Tryon (Ed.), Comparative Austronesian dictionary: An introduction to Austronesian studies (part 1: fascicle 1, pp. 659-65). Trends in linguistics, Documentation (No. 10). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
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