Blagar is a Papuan language of Pantar island in the Alor archipelago of Indonesia. The Tereweng dialect spoken on Tereweng Island off the southeast coast of Pantar[2] is sometimes considered a separate language.[3]
| Blagar | |
|---|---|
| Tereweng | |
| Native to | Indonesia |
| Region | Pantar Island |
Native speakers | 10,000 (2014)[1] |
Trans–New Guinea ?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:beu – Blagartwg – Tereweng |
| Glottolog | blag1240 Blagartere1277 Tereweng |
| ELP | Blagar |
 Languages of the Alor Islands. Blagar is shown in yellow. | |
The increasing prominence of Indonesian has been putting pressure on the Blagar language although the language is still used by all age groups.[4] By the 1970s Indonesian replaced Blagar as the language of churches and mosques, and in the early 2000s the spread of Indonesian was furthered by the introduction of electricity on Pura Island.[4]
Phonology
editVowels
editBlagar has five vowels, with a sharp contrast between short and long vowels.[5]
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | /i/ /i:/ |
/u/ /u:/ |
| Mid | /e/ /e:/ |
/o/ /o:/ |
| Open | /a/ /a:/ | |
Consonants
edit| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p b | t̪ d | k g | ʔ | |
| Implosive | ɓ | ||||
| Fricative | s z | h | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||
| Trill | r | ||||
| Lateral | l | ||||
| Approximant | j |
Grammar
editThe morphological typology of Blagar is categorized as isolating.[7]
Writing system
editBlagar uses the 26 letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet, and has two digraphs: ⟨ng⟩ and ⟨sy⟩.
| Uppercase letters | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowercase letters | a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z |
| IPA | /a/ | /b/ | /t͡ʃ/ | /d/ | /e/ | /f/ | /g/ | /h/ | /i/ | /d͡ʒ/ | /k/ | /l/ | /m/ | /n/ | /o/ | /p/ | /k/, /q/ | /r/~/ɾ/ | /s/ | /t/ | /u/ | /f/, /v/ | /w/ | /ks/ | /j/ | /s/, /z/ |
| Digraphs | ng | sy |
|---|---|---|
| IPA | /ŋ/ | /ʃ/ |
⟨c⟩, ⟨q⟩, ⟨x⟩, ⟨z⟩ and ⟨sy⟩ are only used in foreign place names and loanwords.[3]
Another writing system is also used, which is phonemic and is similar to the writing system of Indonesian.[8]
| Letters | a | b | b’ | d | e | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | ng | o | p | q | r | t | u | v | y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | /a/ | /b/ | /ɓ/ | /d/ | /e/ | /g/ | /h/ | /i/ | /ɟ/, /ɟ͡ʝ/ | /k/ | /l/ | /m/ | /n/ | /ŋ/ | /o/ | /p/ | /ʔ/ | /r/ | /t/ | /u/ | /w/ | /j/ |
References
edit- ^ "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 2018-06-06.
- ^ "Tereweng". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
- ^ a b c d "Blagar alphabet, pronunciation [sic] and language". Omniglot. Retrieved 2018-06-27.
- ^ a b Steinhauer 2014, p. 149.
- ^ a b Steinhauer 2014, p. 150.
- ^ Steinhauer 2014, p. 152.
- ^ Steinhauer 1977, p. 39.
- ^ Steinhauer & Gomang 2016, pp. xix–xx.
Bibliography
edit- Steinhauer, Hein (1977). ""Going" and "Coming" in the Blagar of Dolap (Pura--Alor--Indonesia) 1)" (PDF). SEAlang. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
- Steinhauer, Hein (2014). "Blagar". In Schapper, Antoinette (ed.). The Papuan Languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar: Volume 1: Sketch Grammars. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 147–219. ISBN 9781614515241.
- Steinhauer, Hein; Gomang, Hendrik D.R. (2016). Kamus Blagar-Indonesia-Inggris: Blagar-Indonesian-English Dictionary. ISBN 978-602-433-356-0.
External links
edit
- Alphabet and pronunciation
- Audio speech of the Pura dialect of Blagar
- Description of the Blagar language
- Blagar Swadesh list at TransNewGuinea.org
- Blagar Swadesh List by The Rosetta Project at the Internet Archive
- Genesis, Mark, and Acts in the Pura dialect of the Blagar language of Indonesia
- Blagar Dadibira Collection at The Language Archive