Celebic languages

The Celebic languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages spoken on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, formerly called Celebes. Almost all of the languages spoken in the provinces of Central Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi belong to the Celebic group. A few Celebic languages (e.g. Wotu, Bonerate) are located in South Sulawesi province. By number of languages (but not by number of speakers), Celebic is the largest subgroup of Austronesian languages on Sulawesi.

Celebic
Geographic distribution	Sulawesi, Indonesia
Linguistic classification	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Celebic
Proto-language	Proto-Celebic
Subdivisions	Tomini–Tolitoli Kaili–Pamona Wotu–Wolio Saluan–Banggai Bungku–Tolaki Muna–Buton
Language codes
Glottolog	cele1242
Map showing the distribution of the Celebic languages (in dark blue) in Sulawesi alongside other Austronesian languages

Subgrouping

Internal classification

David Mead (2003a:125) classifies the Celebic languages as follows.^[1][2]

• Celebic
  • Tomini–Tolitoli
  • Kaili–Pamona
  • Wotu–Wolio
  • Eastern
    • Saluan–Banggai
    • Southeastern
      • Bungku–Tolaki
      • Muna–Buton

More recently, Zobel (2020) proposed that Kaili–Pamona and Wotu–Wolio form a Kaili–Wolio group, which Zobel places as a primary subgroup of Celebic. Furthermore, in Zobel's (2020) classification, Kaili–Wolio is placed as a sister to group to Tominic–Eastern Celebic, which contains Mead's (2003) Tomini–Tolitoli and Eastern Celebic groups.^[3]

Position within Austronesian

At the current state of research, the Celebic languages are considered to make up a primary branch of the Malayo-Polynesian subgroup within the Austronesian language family.^[4]

Proto-Celebic

Proto-Celebic
Reconstruction of	Celebic languages
Region	Sulawesi
Reconstructed ancestors	Proto-Austronesian Proto-Malayo-Polynesian
Lower-order reconstructions	Proto-Muna-Buton Proto-Bungku-Tolaki

David Mead (2003a:125) lists the following sound changes for Proto-Celebic and its subgroups.^[1]

1. Proto-Malayo-Polynesian to Proto-Celebic
   • *C₁C₂ > *C₂ (C₁ not nasal)
   • *h > Ø
   • *d > *r
   • *ay, *-ey > *e
   • *-aw, *-ew > *o
   • *j > *y, Ø
2. Proto-Celebic to Proto-Eastern Celebic
   • *e (schwa) > *o
   • *-iq > *eq
   • antepenultimate *a > *o
3. Proto-Eastern Celebic to Proto-Saluan–Banggai
   • *-awa- > *oa
   • *-b, *-g > *p, *k
   • *q > *ʔ
4. Proto-Eastern Celebic to Proto-Southeastern Celebic
   • *-w- > Ø
   • *s > *s, *h
   • *Z > *s
   • *ñ > n
   • *b > *b, *w
5. Proto-Southeastern Celebic to Proto-Bungku–Tolaki
   • *q > *ʔ
   • *w- > *h
   • *ʀ > Ø initially and contiguous to *i
6. Proto-Southeastern Celebic to Proto-Muna–Buton
   • *w > Ø
   • final consonant loss (?)

See also

• Languages of Sulawesi
• South Sulawesi languages