Selayar or Selayarese is a
Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by about 100,000 people on the
island of Selayar
Selayar is the main island of the Selayar Islands (''Kepulauan Selayar''). It lies off the coast of Cape Bira of South Sulawesi Province. The Selayar Straits separate it from the mainland of Sulawesi. Its main city is Benteng, towns to the south ...
in
South Sulawesi
South Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Selatan) is a province in the southern peninsula of Sulawesi. The Selayar Islands archipelago to the south of Sulawesi is also part of the province. The capital is Makassar. The province is bordered by Central Sul ...
province,
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 ...
.
Phonology
Vowels
Vowels are lengthened when stressed and in an open syllable.
Nasalization
Nasalization extends from nasal consonants to the following vowels, continuing until blocked by an
intonation break or a consonant other than a
glottal stop:
: "A dog urinated on him."
: "A lizard urinated on him, and a dog defecated on him."
Consonants
Of the coronals, the voiceless stop is
dental, while the others are
alveolar.
Morphology
Selayarese intransitive verbs index pronominal arguments via an
absolutive enclitic.
[
][
]
In transitive verbs the less agent-like argument is indexed by the absolutive enclitic.
References
{{Austronesian languages
South Sulawesi languages
Languages of Sulawesi
South Sulawesi