Matbat language

Matbat is a heavily Papuan-influenced Austronesian language spoken in West Papua, Indonesia, on the island of Misool, Raja Ampat islands.^[1] Its dialects are Magey and Tomolol.^[2]: 17 Similar to the neighboring Ma'ya language, Matbat is one of a handful of Austronesian languages with true lexical tone rather than a pitch-accent system or complete lack of phonemic tonal contrasts as with most other Austronesian languages.^[3]

Matbat
Misool
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Misool, Raja Ampat islands
Native speakers	1,000–1,500 (2001)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian Eastern Malayo-Polynesian South Halmahera–West New Guinea Raja Ampat–South Halmahera Ma'ya-Matbat Matbat
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xmt
Glottolog	matb1237
Matbat
Coordinates: 1.88°S 130.07°E / -1.88; 130.07

Distribution

Matbat is spoken in the following locations within Raja Ampat Regency:^[4]

• Misool Timur District: Tumolol, Lenmalas, Lenmalas Timur Barat, Audam, Foley, and Eduai villages
• Misool Utara District: Atkari and Salafen villages
• Misool Barat District: Magei village

Phonology

The phonology of the Matbat language is summarized below:^[5]

Consonant sounds

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p b	t d		k g
Fricative	f	s			h
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Lateral		l
Glide			j	w

/j/ can be heard freely as [ʝ] or [ɟ] in word-initial position.^[1]

Vowel sounds

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid	e	o
	ɛ	ɔ
Open	a

Tones

Matbat has five lexical tones: high falling ˥˩ 41, high ˦ 3, low rising ˩˨ 12, low level ˩ 1, and low falling ˨˩ 21, which in open syllables has a peaking allophone, ˩˨˩ 121. Most Matbat words are monosyllabic; additional syllables in polysyllabic words are often weak and toneless, though a few words do have two tonic syllables. Examples of some of the longer monomorphemic words are /kamow˩˨/ 'star', /wuj˦te/ 'sea shore', /sapu˥˩luj˩˨/ 'round', /bim˦bom˩˨˩pu/ 'butterfly'.

Evolution

Tonogenesis in Matbat remains unclear. Some Matbat reflexes of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP) proto-forms are listed below.^{[3]: 658–659}

• PMP *bunuq > Mayá bu³n 'kill'
• PMP *penuq > fo¹²n 'full'
• PMP *salaq > sa³l 'error'
• PMP *qateluR (> *teluR) > to¹²l 'egg'
• PMP *matay > ma¹²t 'die'
• PMP *kutu > u³t 'louse'