Mongondow language

Mongondow, or Bolaang Mongondow, is one of the Philippine languages spoken in Bolaang Mongondow Regency and neighbouring regencies of North Sulawesi (Celebes) and Gorontalo Provinces, Indonesia.^[2] With more than 200,000 speakers, it is the major language of the regency. Historically, it served as the official language of the Bolaang Mongondow Kingdom.^[3]

Mongondow
Bolaang Mongondow
Native to	Indonesia
Region	North Sulawesi
Ethnicity	Mongondow people
Native speakers	(230,000 cited 2000 census)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Greater Central Philippine Gorontalo–Mongondow Mongondowic Mongondow
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mog
Glottolog	mong1342

There is some lexical influence from Malay and Ternate,^[4][5][6] as well as the Indonesian national language.^[7] It is a threatened language, with a shift to Manado Malay in the younger generation.^[8] The moribund Lolak language has borrowed much of its lexicon from Mongondow, but appears to be more closely related to Gorontalo.^[9][10]

Phonology

Mongondow has the following phoneme inventory:^[11]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d	(d͡ʒ)	ɡ
Fricative			s			h
Lateral			l
Rhotic			r
Approximant		w		j

The lateral /l/ is pronounced as alveolar [l] when adjacent to the front vowels /e/, /i/. In all other environments, it is a retroflex [ɭ].^[12]

Grammar

Pronouns

The personal pronouns are:^[13]

	nominative	genitive	oblique
1.sg.	akuoy	-ku	inako'
2.sg.	iko	-mu	inimu
3.sg.	sia	-ea/-nya	inia
1.pl.inclusive	kita	-naton	inaton
1.pl.exclusive	kami	-nami	inami
2.pl.	mo'iko kamu-*	-monimu -namu-*	imonimu -inamu-*
3.pl.	mosia taya-*	-monia -naya-*	imonia inaya-*
* kamu-, taya- etc. are used with suffixed numerals, e.g. taya-tolu 'the three of them'

Numerals

1	inta' / mita'[14]
2	dua' / doyowa'
3	tolu'
4	opat
5	lima
6	onom
7	pitu
8	ualu
9	siow
10	mopulu'
11	mopulu' bo mita'
12 (...)	mopulu' bo doyowa'
20	doyowa no pulu'
21 (...)	doyowa no pulu' bo mita'
30	tolu no pulu'
40 (...)	opat no pulu'
100	mogatut
200 (...)	doyowa no gatut
1000	tongo ribu
2000 (...)	doyowa no ribu