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 subgrou ...

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

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 ...

and West Sulawesi, 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& ...

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 Bentong ( Jawi: ﺑﻨﺘﻮڠ), the seat of Bentong District, is a town located in western Pahang, Malaysia, at the border with the state of Selangor in the west and the state of Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ...

, Coastal Konjo, Highland Konjo, Makassarese, Selayar *

Seko Seko may refer to: *Seko language, a language of Sulawesi, Indonesia *Seko, Indonesia, an area of South Sulawesi, Indonesia *Seko Rural LLG in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea People with the given name *Seko Fofana (born 1995), Ivorian footballe ...

Budong-Budong Budong-Budong is an Austronesian language of Sulawesi, Indonesia, spoken in the village of Tongkou, Budong-Budong Subdistrict, Central Mamuju Regency. Together with Seko Padang, Seko Tengah and Panasuan, it belongs to the Seko branch of the ...

, 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 m ...

, Dakka,

Pannei Pannei is an Austronesian language of Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Ma ...

Bambam Kunpimook Bhuwakul ( th, กันต์พิมุกต์ ภูวกุล; ; ; born May 2, 1997), nicknamed BamBam (; ), is a Thai rapper and singer based in South Korea, and a member of the boy band Got7. Biography His name is derive ...

, Ulumanda’ **Toraja: Kalumpang, Tae’, Mamasa (including Pattae', '' Central Mamasa'', and '' Northern Mamasa''), Toraja-Sa’dan, Talondo’ The position of the Tamanic languages, spoken in

West Borneo 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& ...

, 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 with

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 Southeast ...

subgroup within the

Austronesian Austronesian may refer to: *The Austronesian languages *The historical Austronesian peoples The Austronesian peoples, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples in Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, M ...

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