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Bunak language

{{Short description|Papuan language spoken on Timor, Indonesia}}

{{More footnotes needed|date=August 2024}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Bunak

|states=Indonesia, East Timor

|region=central Timor

|speakers=76,000

|ethnicity=Bunak

|date=2010

|ref=e18

|familycolor=Papuan

|fam1=Trans–New Guinea ?

|fam2=Berau Gulf

|fam3=West Bomberai{{Cite web |url=https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/trans-new-guinea/berau-gulf/west-bomberai |title=New Guinea World, West Bomberai |access-date=2018-05-20 }}

|fam4=Timor–Alor–Pantar

|minority=East Timor

|iso3=bfn

|glotto=buna1278

|glottorefname=Bunak

|map=Bunak.png

|mapcaption=Distribution of Bunak in East Timor (West Timor not shown)

}}

The Bunak language (also known as Bunaq, Buna{{'}}, Bunake, pronounced {{IPA|[bunaʔ]}}) is the language of the Bunak people of the mountainous region of central Timor, split between the political boundary between West Timor, Indonesia, particularly in Lamaknen District and East Timor. It is one of the few on Timor which is not an Austronesian language, but rather a Papuan language of the Timor–Alor–Pantar language family. The language is surrounded by Malayo-Polynesian languages, like Uab Meto and Tetum.

Bunak distinguishes between animate and inanimate noun classes.{{cite book |last1=Holton |first1=Gary |last2=Klamer |first2=Marian |editor1-last=Palmer |editor1-first=Bill |date=2018 |title=The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A Comprehensive Guide |chapter=The Papuan languages of East Nusantara and the Bird’s Head |series= The World of Linguistics |volume=4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=569–640 |isbn=978-3-11-028642-7}}

Phonology

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+Consonant sounds

! colspan="2" |

!Labial

!Alveolar

!Palatal

!Velar

!Glottal

rowspan="2" |Plosive/
Affricate

!voiceless

|{{IPA link|p}}

|{{IPA link|t}}

|{{IPA link|tʃ}}

|{{IPA link|k}}

|{{IPA link|ʔ}}

voiced

|{{IPA link|b}}

|{{IPA link|d}}

|

|{{IPA link|ɡ}}

|

rowspan="2" |Fricative

!voiceless

|

|{{IPA link|s}}

|

|

|{{IPA link|h}}

voiced

|

|{{IPA link|z}}

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Nasal

| {{IPA link|m}}

| {{IPA link|n}}

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Trill

|

| {{IPA link|r}}

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Lateral

|

|{{IPA link|l}}

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Approximant

| {{IPA link|w}}

|

|

|

|

  • Plosive sounds /p t k/ can be heard as unreleased allophones [p̚ t̚ k̚], in word-final position.
  • Sounds /b d ɡ/ can be heard as [β r ɣ] in intervocalic positions.
  • /ɡ/ can be heard as [dʒ] when preceding /i/.
  • /z/ can have allophones [ʒ dʒ] in free variation.
  • /tʃ/ is heard as [s] when preceding /i/.
  • /l/ in word-final position can also be heard as a fricative [ɬ] in free variation.Schapper (2009).

class="wikitable"

|+Vowel sounds

!

!Front

!Central

!Back

High

| align="center" |{{IPA link|i}}

|

| align="center" |{{IPA link|u}}

Mid

| align="center" |{{IPA link|e}}

|

| align="center" |{{IPA link|o}}

Low

|

| align="center" |{{IPA link|a}}

|

Pronouns

Pronouns seem to tie Bunak more closely to the Alor–Pantar languages, in a group Ross (2005) calls "West Timor", than with the Papuan East Timor languages. The independent pronouns and object prefixes, which appear to retain the proto-Trans–New Guinea dual suffix *-li, are as follows:

class="wikitable"
colspan="2" |

! singular

! dual

! plural

rowspan="2" | 1st person

! exclusive

| rowspan="2" | ne-to
n-

| ne-li
n-

| ne-i
n-

inclusive

| i-li
∅-

| i
∅-

colspan="2" | 2nd person

| e-to
∅-

| e-li
∅-

| e-i
∅-

rowspan="2" | 3rd person

! animate

| himo
g-

| rowspan="2" | –

| rowspan="2" | hala'i
g-

inanimate

| homo

Notes

{{Reflist}}

References

  • {{Cite thesis |last=Schapper |first=Antoinette |title=Bunaq: A Papuan Language of Central Timor |date=2009 |degree=Ph.D. |publisher=Australian National University |doi=10.25911/5d611d87406d0 |doi-access=free |hdl=1885/150147 |hdl-access=free |ref=thesis}}
  • {{Cite journal |last=Schapper |first=Antoinette |date=2011a |title=Crossing the border: Historical and linguistic divides among the Bunaq in central Timor |journal=Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=29–49 |doi=10.17510/wjhi.v13i1.8 |doi-access=free }}
  • {{Cite book |url=https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/monographs-anthropology/land-and-life-timor-leste |chapter=Finding Bunaq: The homeland and expansion of the Bunaq in central Timor |title=Land and Life in Timor-Leste: Ethnographic Essays |last=Schapper |first=Antoinette |date=2011b |publisher=ANU Press |isbn=978-1-921862-59-5 |editor-last=McWilliam |editor-first=Andrew |doi=10.22459/lltl.12.2011.08 |editor-last2=Traube |editor-first2=Elizabeth G. |doi-access=free }}
  • {{Cite book |title=A Grammar of Bunaq |last=Schapper |first=Antoinette |date=2022 |series=Mouton Grammar Library |volume=86|publisher=Mouton deGruyter |isbn=9783110714500 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/isbn/9783110761146/html?lang=en |ref=2022 }}

External links

  • ELAR archive of [http://elar.soas.ac.uk/deposit/0329 Zapal, an oral literature genre of the Bunaq Lamaknen]
  • Timothy Usher, New Guinea World, [https://newguineaworld.linguistik.uzh.ch/families/trans-new-guinea/berau-gulf/west-bomberai/timor-alor-pantar/bunaq Bunaq]

{{Languages of East Timor}}

{{West Trans–New Guinea languages}}

Category:Languages of Indonesia

Category:Languages of Timor-Leste

Category:Timor–Alor–Pantar languages

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