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 toIndonesia
RegionNorth Sulawesi
EthnicityMongondow people
Native speakers
230,000 (2000 census)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3mog
Glottologmong1342

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

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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

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Pronouns

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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

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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
 

References

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  1. ^ Mongondow at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Christopher Moseley (2008). Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-1357-9640-2.
  3. ^ Sneddon (1991), p. 301.
  4. ^ Dunnebier (1929a), p. 312.
  5. ^ Sneddon (1989), p. 92.
  6. ^ Babcock (1990), p. 192.
  7. ^ Usup et al. (1981), p. 213.
  8. ^ Korompot, Chairil Anwar (10–11 September 2008), "Menyelamatkan Bahasa Bolaang-Mongondow", Tribun Totabuan (in Indonesian)
  9. ^ Sneddon (1991).
  10. ^ Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D., eds. (2019), "Lolak", Ethnologue: Languages of the World (22 ed.), Dallas, Texas: SIL International, archived from the original on 2019-06-06
  11. ^ Dunnebier (1929a), p. 297.
  12. ^ Dunnebier (1929a), pp. 317–324.
  13. ^ Dunnebier (1930), pp. 105–111.
  14. ^ Dunnebier (1930), pp. 75ff..

Bibliography

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