Mentawai language

Not to be confused with Mendawai language.

Mentawai (/ˌmɛntəˈwaɪ/ MEN-tuh-wai; Nganga Simatawe, IPA: [ˈŋa.ŋa siˈma.ta.we], Indonesian: Bahasa Mentawai [baˈha.sa mənˈtawai]) is an Austronesian language, spoken by the Mentawai and Sakuddei people of the Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra, Indonesia.

Mentawai
Nganga Simatawe
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra
Ethnicity	Mentawai people Sakuddei people
Native speakers	(58,000 cited 2000 census)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Northwest Sumatra–Barrier Islands Mentawai
Dialects	Mentawai dialects
Writing system	Latin (Mentawai alphabet)
Official status
Regulated by	Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mwv
Glottolog	ment1249
Mentawai in pink (Mantawai)

Dialects and sub-dialects

According to Ethnologue, Mentawai dialects include: Silabu, Sipura – Simalegi, Sakalagan, Saumanganja – North Siberut, South Siberut – Taikaku – Pagai.^[1]

Syamsir Arifin, et al. (1992) list twelve dialects of Mentawai:

• Mentawai
  • South Siberut
    • Madobat
    • Salappa
    • Ulubaga
  • Sipora
    • Bariulou
    • Bosua
    • Sioban
  • North Pagai
    • Pasapuat
    • Silabu
    • Saumanganya
  • South Pagai
    • Boriai
    • Bulasat
    • Sikakap

Dialects in Siberut Island are:^[2]

• Sikapone
• Togiiite
• Pokai
• Simajegi
• Simatalu
• Paipajet
• Sakuddei
• Sagulubbe
• Sirileleu
• Sikabaluan
• Sempungan
• Saibi & Sarabua
• Silaoinan
• Sarareiket
• Sabirut

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	(t͡ɕ)	k
	voiced	b	d	d͡ʑ	ɡ
Fricative			s
Lateral			l
Rhotic			r
Semivowel		w		j

• Allophones of /b ɡ k/ can be heard as [β ɣ ʔ]. [t͡ɕ] is a distinct sound in Mentawai, but not given phoneme status by Syamsir et al. because of the lack of minimal contrasts.^[3]
• The semivowels /w j/ only appear in final position.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a