Tonsawang language

Tonsawang, also known as Tombatu,^[2] is an Austronesian language of the northern tip of Sulawesi, Indonesia. It belongs to the Minahasan branch of the Philippine languages.^[3][4][5]

Tonsawang
Native to	Indonesia
Region	Northern Sulawesi
Native speakers	(20,000 cited 1981)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Minahasan Tonsawang
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tnw
Glottolog	tons1239
ELP	Tonsawang

Location

According to linguist James Sneddon, the language is "one of the most isolated languages", spoken in southeast Minahasa,^[6] while linguist Robert Blust situated it, along with the others of the Minahasan group, near Lake Tondano, "in the northern peninsula of Sulawesi".^[7]

Orthography

Alphabet

• a – [ä]
• b – [b]
• e – [ə]
• è – [ɛ]
• g – [g]
• i – [i]
• j – [d͡ʒ]
• k – [k]
• l – [l]
• m – [m]
• n – [n]
• ng – [ŋ]
• o – [o̞]
• p – [p]
• r – [ɾ]
• s – [s]
• t – [t]
• u – [u]
• w – [w]
• ' – [ʔ]^[8][9]