West Damar language

{{short description|Austronesian language spoken in Maluku, Indonesia}}

{{Infobox language

|name = West Damar

|altname = North Damar

|nativename = Damar Batumerah

|states = Indonesia

|region = Maluku Islands

|speakers = 800

|date=1987

|ref = e18

|familycolor = Austronesian

|fam2 = Malayo-Polynesian

|fam3 = Central–Eastern

|fam4 = Babar

|iso3 = drn

|glotto = west2548

|glottorefname = West Damar

}}

West Damar, or North Damar, is an Austronesian language of Damar Island, one of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. In spite of rather low cognacy rates with its neighboring languages,Mark Taber. 1993. Toward a better understanding of the Indigenous Languages of Southwestern Maluku. Oceanic Linguistics 32. 389-441. it can be classified as part of the Babar languages based on qualitative evidence.Aone van Engelenhoven. 2010. Tentatively locating West-Damar among the languages of Southwest Maluku. In Chlenova, Svetlana and Fedorchuk, Artem (eds.), Studia Anthropologica: a Festschrift in Honor of Michael Chlenov, 297-326. Moscow-Jerusalem: Gesharim.

It is spoken in two villages (Batumerah, Kuai) located in the north-western part of Damar.{{Cite web|date=2015-05-12|title=West Damar Language or Damar-Batumerah, an Isolate in South-Eastern Indonesia|url=http://www-01.sil.org/asia/philippines/ical/papers/chlenov-west_damar.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512110444/http://www-01.sil.org/asia/philippines/ical/papers/chlenov-west_damar.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2015-05-12|access-date=2020-07-04}}

Phonology

The consonant inventory of West Damar is as follows:{{cite book|title=Language and Text in the Austronesian World: Studies in honor of Ülo Sirk|chapter=Preliminary Grammatical Notes on Damar Batumerah or West Damar, a Language of Southwest Maluku|last=Chlenova|first=Svetlana|editor=Yury Lander|editor2=Alexander Ogloblin|pages=163–177|location=München|publisher=Lincom|year=2008}}

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" ! colspan="2" \| !Labial !Alveolar !Palatal !Velar !Glottal
rowspan="2" \|Plosive/Affricate !voiceless \|p \|t \|t͡ʃ \|k \|
voiced \|(b) \|d \| \|(ɡ) \|
colspan="2" \|Nasal \|m \|n \|ɲ \|ŋ \|
colspan="2" \|Fricative \| \|s \| \|x \|h
colspan="2" \|Trill \| \|r \| \| \|
colspan="2" \|Lateral \| \|l \| \| \|
colspan="2" \|Approximant \|w \| \|j \| \|

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

! colspan="2" |

rowspan="2" |Plosive/Affricate

!voiceless

|p

|t

|t͡ʃ

|k

|

voiced

|(b)

|d

|

|(ɡ)

|

colspan="2" |Nasal

|m

|n

|ɲ

|ŋ

|

colspan="2" |Fricative

|

|s

|

|x

|h

colspan="2" |Trill

|

|r

|

colspan="2" |Lateral

|

|l

|

colspan="2" |Approximant

|w

|

|j

|

Sounds {{IPA|/b ɡ/}} only occur in loanwords from Indonesian. {{IPA|/ŋ/}} also mostly, but not exclusively, appears in loanwords.

The vowel inventory of West Damar is simply {{IPA|/a e i o u/}}.

Morphology

A few aspects of West Damar morphology are noted as follows.

=Verb conjugation=

Verbs in West Damar are conjugated according to person and number.

class="wikitable" \|+ West Damar verbal prefixes ! Person/number ! Prefix ! Verb -oni "to eat" ! Other attested verbs
1st sg. \|w- \|woni \|
2nd sg. \|m- \|moni \|
3rd sg. \|n- Becomes ng- before velar consonants. \|yoni \|n-poko "explodes", n-woludlo "hunts", n-hakro "boils", n-dekro "is dry", ng-kerso "is thin",
1st pl. inclusive \|k-, t- \|toni \|k-la "we go", k-wadano "we hear", k-hoto "we talk", k-mattuni "we sleep", k-nehi "we run"
1st pl. exclusive \|m- \|moni \|
2nd pl. \|m- -y-,The -y- is attached after the initial consonant of a verb stem, so from -lo "go" is born mlyo. ms- \|msoni \|mlyo "you go", mnyedi "you fall"
3rd pl. \|r- \|roni \|

class="wikitable"

|+ West Damar verbal prefixes

! Person/number

! Prefix

! Verb -oni "to eat"

! Other attested verbs

1st sg.

|w-

|woni

|

2nd sg.

|m-

|moni

|

3rd sg.

|n- Becomes ng- before velar consonants.

|yoni

|n-poko "explodes", n-woludlo "hunts", n-hakro "boils", n-dekro "is dry", ng-kerso "is thin",

1st pl. inclusive

|k-, t-

|toni

|k-la "we go", k-wadano "we hear", k-hoto "we talk", k-mattuni "we sleep", k-nehi "we run"

1st pl. exclusive

|m-

|moni

|

2nd pl.

|m- -y-,The -y- is attached after the initial consonant of a verb stem, so from -lo "go" is born mlyo. ms-

|msoni

|mlyo "you go", mnyedi "you fall"

3rd pl.

|r-

|roni

|

=Possession=

West Damar has a series of possessive suffixes that are attached to nouns. There is no possessive verb. The possessive suffixes are as follows:

class="wikitable" \|+ West Damar possessive suffixes ! Person/number ! Suffix
1st sg. \|-cheni
2nd sg. \|-mcheni
3rd sg. \|-eni
1st pl. inclusive \|-toni
1st pl. exclusive \|-moni
2nd pl. \|-mseni
3rd pl. \|-roni

class="wikitable"

|+ West Damar possessive suffixes

! Person/number

! Suffix

1st sg.

|-cheni

2nd sg.

|-mcheni

3rd sg.

|-eni

1st pl. inclusive

|-toni

1st pl. exclusive

|-moni

2nd pl.

|-mseni

3rd pl.

|-roni

The possessive suffixes are built from a base suffix -ni that also appears as a lexical derivational suffix:

ulcho + -ni > ulchuni "husband"
deweya + -ni > deweyeni "wife"
ullo "month" + -ni > ulloni "moon"

=Negation=

The word for "no" in West Damar is kewe. When split into a circumfix, ke- -we serves as a simple negator for content words like nouns, verbs, and adjectives. The -we part of the negator comes immediately after the stem it attaches to, but before other clitics. A few examples of negation provided by Chlenova are as follows:

{{interlinear

|ke-mormorsa-we

|NEG-buffalo-NEG

|"not a buffalo"

}}

{{interlinear

|Piter ke-tucha-we-mo odo-i

|Peter NEG-old-NEG-? 1SG-DET

|"Peter (is) not as old as I (am)"

}}

Another negative predicative word krawui "unavailable" is also recorded.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary list:

class="wikitable"
West Damar ! Indonesian ! English
{{lang\|drn\|odo}} \| {{lang\|id\|saya}} \| I
{{lang\|drn\|ede}} \| {{lang\|id\|engkau}} \| you (sing.)
{{lang\|drn\|idi}} \| {{lang\|id\|dia}} \| he, she
{{lang\|drn\|itito}} \| {{lang\|id\|kita}} \| we (incl.)
{{lang\|drn\|odomo}} \| {{lang\|id\|kami}} \| we (exc.)
{{lang\|drn\|edmi}} \| {{lang\|id\|kamu}} \| you (pl.)
{{lang\|drn\|idiro}} \| {{lang\|id\|mereka}} \| they
{{lang\|drn\|mehno}} \| {{lang\|id\|satu}} \| one
{{lang\|drn\|wyeru}} \| {{lang\|id\|dua}} \| two
{{lang\|drn\|wyetteli}} \| {{lang\|id\|tiga}} \| three
{{lang\|drn\|wyoto}} \| {{lang\|id\|empat}} \| four
{{lang\|drn\|wilimo}} \| {{lang\|id\|lima}} \| five
{{lang\|drn\|wyenamo}} \| {{lang\|id\|enam}} \| six
{{lang\|drn\|witi}} \| {{lang\|id\|tujuh}} \| seven
{{lang\|drn\|way}} \| {{lang\|id\|delapan}} \| eight
{{lang\|drn\|wisi}} \| {{lang\|id\|sembilan}} \| nine
{{lang\|drn\|uswuti}} \| {{lang\|id\|sepuluh}} \| ten
{{lang\|drn\|ulkona}} \| {{lang\|id\|kepala}} \| head
{{lang\|drn\|lima}} \| {{lang\|id\|tangan}} \| hand
{{lang\|drn\|eya}} \| {{lang\|id\|kaki}} \| foot

class="wikitable"

West Damar

! Indonesian

! English

| {{lang|id|saya}}

| I

| {{lang|id|engkau}}

| you (sing.)

| {{lang|id|dia}}

| he, she

| {{lang|id|kita}}

| we (incl.)

| {{lang|id|kami}}

| we (exc.)

| {{lang|id|kamu}}

| you (pl.)

| {{lang|id|mereka}}

| they

| {{lang|id|satu}}

| one

| {{lang|id|dua}}

| two

| {{lang|id|tiga}}

| three

| {{lang|id|empat}}

| four

| {{lang|id|lima}}

| five

| {{lang|id|enam}}

| six

| {{lang|id|tujuh}}

| seven

| {{lang|id|delapan}}

| eight

| {{lang|id|sembilan}}

| nine

| {{lang|id|sepuluh}}

| ten

| {{lang|id|kepala}}

| head

| {{lang|id|tangan}}

| hand

| {{lang|id|kaki}}

| foot

=Sample sentences=

{{Transliteration|drn|Ede mpondai?}} - Are you ill?

{{Transliteration|drn|E’e, odo ulkonacheni nchepondo.}} - Yes, I have a headache.

{{Transliteration|drn|Wohleyo Binayani idihe hulchupondeheti wohleyo Ahehendini}} - The mountain Binaya is the highest at the Seram island.

West Damar language

Phonology

Morphology

=Verb conjugation=

=Possession=

=Negation=

Vocabulary

=Sample sentences=

See also

References

Further reading