The South Sulawesi languages are a

subgroup In group theory, a branch of mathematics, given a group ''G'' under a binary operation ∗, a subset ''H'' of ''G'' is called a subgroup of ''G'' if ''H'' also forms a group under the operation ∗. More precisely, ''H'' is a subgroup ...

of the Austronesian language family. They are primarily spoken in the Indonesian provinces of South Sulawesi and

West Sulawesi West Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Barat) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the western side of Sulawesi island. It covers an area of 16,787.18 km2, and its capital is Mamuju. The 2010 Census recorded a population of 1,158,651, while ...

, with a small outlying pocket in

West Kalimantan West Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Barat) is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital city is Pontianak. The province has an area of 147,307&nbs ...

Subgrouping

Internal classification

This classification follows Grimes & Grimes (1987) and the '' Ethnologue''.South Sulawesi
at '' Ethnologue'' (23rd ed., 2020). *Bugis **Buginese: Buginese, Campalagian ** Tamanic: Embaloh, Taman * Makassaric: 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 Aralle-Tabulahan is an Austronesian language that belongs to the South Sulawesi subgroup. It is spoken in Mamasa Regency, West Sulawesi, Indonesia. Aralle-Tabulahan has three dialects: Aralle, Tabulahan and Mambi. The Mambi dialect is the most ...

, Dakka,

Pannei Pannei is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language of Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is nearly intelligible with other Northern South Sulawesi languages#Pitu Ulunna Salu, Pitu Ulunna Salu languages. References

Languages of Sulawesi So ...

, Bambam, Ulumanda’ **Toraja:

Kalumpang Kalumpang is a mukim in Hulu Selangor District, Selangor, Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South C ...

, 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 The Badaic languages are a group of three closely related Austronesian languages spoken in the North Lore and South Lore districts in Poso Regency, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, viz. Bada (Bada’), Behoa (Besoa), and Napu. The three languages ...

with Seko as part of a ''Seko–Badaic'' group within the South Sulawesi branch. Notes: ''Italic'' writing 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 The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeas ...

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 (PSS) has been reconstructed by Mills (1975a, 1975b).

Phonology

Vowels

The Proto-South-Sulawesi vowel *ɨ is a reflex of

Proto-Malayo-Polynesian Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP) is the reconstructed ancestor of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, which is by far the largest branch (by current speakers) of the Austronesian language family. Proto-Malayo-Polynesian is ancestral to all Austronesi ...

(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 *putiq > PSS *pute 'white' :PMP *matay > PSS *mate 'dead' :PMP *suluq > PSS *sulo 'torch' :PMP *pisaw > PSS *piso 'knife'

Consonants

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.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

External links

South Sulawesi
at '' Ethnologue'' (23rd ed., 2020).
Classification of Sulawesi Languages
{{Austronesian languages Languages of Sulawesi