Moronene is an Austronesian language spoken in Bombana Regency,

Southeast Sulawesi Southeast Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Tenggara) is a province on the island of Sulawesi, forming the southeastern peninsula of that island, together with a number of substantial offshore islands such as Buton, Muna, Kabaena and Wawonii (formerly ...

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 ...

. It belongs to the Bungku–Tolaki branch of the Celebic subgroup.

Phonology

Moronene has the following consonant inventory:. The vowel phonemes are . Sequences of two like vowels are pronounced as a long vowel, e.g. .

Grammar

Word order

Moronene has flexible word order. However, there is a high frequency of clause-initial verbs in "connected narrative discourse." Noun phrases are not marked for case.Andersen, Suree. 1999. When the Moronene say no. In David Mead (ed.), Studies in Sulawesi linguistics part V, 73-112. Jakarta, Indonesia: Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya. The language has prepositions.

Pronouns

There are two forms of pronouns, free pronouns and absolutive clitics. There are singular and plural forms, there are no dual, trial or paucal forms. There is an inclusive/exclusive distinction in the first person plural forms. There is no gender, and there appears to be no present-day politeness distinction.

Genitive pronouns

There are two classes of genitive pronouns in Moronene which must be learned by speakers, which is unique among Bungku–Tolaki languages.Mead, David. 1998. ''Proto–Bungku-Tolaki: Reconstruction of its phonology and aspects of its morphosyntax''. PhD dissertation. Houston: Rice University. There are singular and plural forms; there are no dual, trial or paucal forms. There is an inclusive/exclusive distinction in the first person plural forms. Example (1) demonstrates the class 1 first person genitive pronoun in use with the noun 'hair'.

Number

Moronene has a decimal numeral system.Andersen, T. David. 1999. Moronene numbers. In David Mead (ed.), Studies in Sulawesi linguistics part V, 1-72. Jakarta, Indonesia: Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya.

References

*Mead, David. 1998. ''Proto–Bungku-Tolaki: Reconstruction of its phonology and aspects of its morphosyntax''. PhD dissertation. Houston: Rice University. *Mead, David. 1999. ''The Bungku–Tolaki languages of south-eastern Sulawesi, Indonesia''. Series D-91. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. *Andersen, T. David. 1999. Moronene numbers. In David Mead (ed.), Studies in Sulawesi linguistics part V, 1-72. Jakarta, Indonesia: Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya. *Andersen, T. David. 2006. Topicality and functional voice in Hebrew and Moronene, with application to translation. (Doctoral dissertation, Fuller Theological Seminary; 346pp.) *Andersen, Suree. 1999. When the Moronene say no. In David Mead (ed.), Studies in Sulawesi linguistics part V, 73-112. Jakarta, Indonesia: Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya. *Muthalib, Abdul and Johannes F. Pattiasina and Adnan Usmar and Rambe, . 1983. Struktur bahasa Moronene. Ujung Pandang: PPBSIDSS. vii+136pp. {{Languages of Indonesia Bungku–Tolaki languages Languages of Sulawesi