The Mentawai language is an
Austronesian language, spoken by the
Mentawai people of the
Mentawai Islands Mentawai may refer to:
* Mentawai Islands
* Mentawai Strait
* Mentawai people
* Mentawai language
The Mentawai language is an Austronesian language, spoken by the Mentawai people of the Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra, Indonesia.
Dialects
Acco ...
,
West Sumatra
West Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Barat) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. It is located on the west coast of the island of Sumatra and includes the Mentawai Islands off that coast. The province has an area of , with a population of 5, ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
.
Dialects
According to ''Ethnologue'', Mentawai dialects include: Silabu, Sipura – Simalegi, Sakalagan, Saumanganja – North Siberut, South Siberut – Taikaku – Pagai.
[
Syamsir Arifin, et al. (1992) list twelve dialects of Mentawai:
*South ]Siberut
Siberut is the largest and northernmost of the Mentawai Islands, located 150 kilometres west of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. It covers an area of 3,838.25 km2 including smaller offshore islands, and had a population of 35,091 at the 2010 Cens ...
**Madobat
**Salappa
**Ulubaga
*Sipora
Sipora (Indonesian: ''Sipora'' or sometimes spelled ''Sipura'') located off Sumatra in the West Sumatra Province of Indonesia, is the second-smallest and most developed of the four Mentawai Islands at only 651.55 km2. It had a population o ...
**Bariulou
**Bosua
**Sioban
*North Pagai
North Pagai (Indonesian: ''Pagai Utara'') is the smallest of the four principal Mentawai Islands off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. It is south of Sipora and north of South Pagai (or Pagai Selatan) Island.
The population figure given f ...
**Pasapuat
**Silabu
**Saumanganya
*South Pagai
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...
**Boriai
**Bulasat
**Sikakap
Dialects in Siberut Island are:
*Sikapone
*Togiiite
*Pokai
*Simajegi
*Simatalu
*Paipajet
*Sakuddei
*Sagulubbe
*Sirileleu
*Sikabaluan
*Sempungan
*Saibi & Sarabua
*Silaoinan
*Sarareiket
*Sabirut
Phonology
Consonants
* Allophones of /b É¡ k/ can be heard as ² É£ Ê” Í¡É•is a distinct sound in Mentawai, but not given phoneme status by Syamsir et al. because of the lack of minimal contrasts.
Vowels
References
Bibliography
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*
Languages of Indonesia
Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands languages
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