Selayar language

Selayar or Selayarese is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by about 100,000 people on the island of Selayar in South Sulawesi province, Indonesia.^[2]: 210

Selayar
Basa Silajara
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Selayar Islands, South Sulawesi
Native speakers	(130,000 cited 2000 census)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian South Sulawesi Makassaric Selayar
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sly
Glottolog	sela1260
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Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Mid	e	o
Low	a

Vowels are lengthened when stressed and in an open syllable.

Nasalization

Nasalization extends from nasal consonants to the following vowels, continuing until blocked by an intonation break or a consonant other than a glottal stop:

[lamẽãĩʔĩ ãːsu] "A dog urinated on him."

[sassaʔ lamẽãĩʔĩ | ʔaːsu lataiːʔiʔi] "A lizard urinated on him, and a dog defecated on him."^{[2]: 225–226}

Consonants

		Bilabial	Coronal	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	prenasalized	ᵐb	ⁿd	ᶮɟ	ᵑɡ
	voiced	b	d	ɟ	ɡ
	voiceless	p	t̪		k	ʔ
Fricative			s			h
Lateral			l
Rhotic			ɹ

Of the coronals, the voiceless stop is dental, while the others are alveolar.

Morphology

Selayarese intransitive verbs index pronominal arguments via an absolutive enclitic.^{[3][4]: 162}

a'lumpa'=a

jump=1S

a'lumpa'=a

jump=1S

'I jump'

mangang=a

tired=1S

mangang=a

tired=1S

'I am tired'

In transitive verbs the less agent-like argument is indexed by the absolutive enclitic.^[4]: 163

ku=isse'=i

1S=know=3S

ku=isse'=i

1S=know=3S

'I know him'