Kambera language

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Kambera
Spoken in: Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia
Total speakers: 234,574 (2000)
Language family: Austronesian
 Malayo-Polynesian
  Central-Eastern
   Central
    Bima-Sumba
     Kambera
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: map
ISO 639-3: xbr

Kambera (also known as Sumbanese, East Sumbanese, Oost-Sumbaas, Humba, Hilu Humba, East Sumba, and Sumba) is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia.

Contents

[edit] Phonology

[edit] Vowels

Front Back
High i iː u uː
Mid e ai o au
Low a, aː

The diphthongs /ai/ and /au/ function phonologically as the long counterparts to /e/ and /o/, respectively.

[edit] Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop p t k
Implosive ɓ ɗ
Voiced affricate
Nasal m n ŋ
Prenasalized stop mb ⁿd ŋɡ
Prenasalized affricate ɲ
Fricative h
Lateral l
Rhotic r
Semivowel w j
Prenasalized semivowel ɲj

Kambera formerly had /s/, but a sound change occurring around the turn of the 20th century replaced all occurrences of former /s/ with /h/.

[edit] References

  • Klamer, Marian (1998). Kambera. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 
  • Klamer, Marian (2005). "Kambera", in Adelaar, Karl Alexander and Himmelmann, Nikolaus: The Austronesian Languages of Asia and Madagascar. London: Curzon Press. 

[edit] External links

Languages