| Ponosakan | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Indonesia |
| Region | Southeast Minahasa Regency,North Sulawesi |
| Ethnicity | Ponosakan people |
Native speakers | 3 (2024) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | pns |
| Glottolog | pono1240 |
  Ponosakan  Ponosakan  Ponosakan | |
| Coordinates:0°55′N124°43′E / 0.917°N 124.717°E /0.917; 124.717 | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Ponosakan is a moribund[1]Austronesian language spoken in the vicinity of the district ofBelang [id],Southeast Minahasa,North Sulawesi,Indonesia. This language is almost extinct, with only four fluent speakers left as of November 2014.[2]
However, a decade later in November 2024, according toBBC News Indonesia, only three fluent speakers of Ponosakan are left, namely Erfie Liu, Rohana Nou, and Wasila Pua. Because of this, the local government has attempted to prevent its extinction by teaching it at elementary schools since 2024.[1]
The locals in North Sulawesi often falsely identify Ponosakan as aMinahasan language,[3] due to the ethnic group's self-identification as a subgroup ofMinahasan people.[4] However, there is no doubt among scholars that this language actually belongs to theGorontalo–Mongondow subgroup.[5][6][7] The Gorontalo–Mongondow languages are commonly classified as a part of thePhilippine subfamily;Robert Blust specifically includes it in theGreater Central Philippine languages, alongside—among others—Tagalog andVisayan languages.[8]
In comparison to other Gorontalo–Mongondow languages, Ponosakan is relatively conservative in terms of phonology and structure.[9]
Ponosakan is spoken at the eastern end of Gorontalo–Mongondow languages' distribution. This language has been spoken by the Ponosakan people in and aroundBelang [id] from at least the 17th century.[9][10] BeforeWorld War II, Ponosakan was the most spoken language not only in Belang, but also in several other settlements around it.[10] But even in the 1920s, its number of speakers was already in decline.[11][13] Influx of migrants from other areas also altered the region's demography; when World War II started, already half of Belang residents were newcomers who did not speak Ponosakan. By the second half of the 20th century, "virtually no ethnic Ponosakans were learning the language anymore".[14]
In November 2014, there were reportedly only four elderly people who could still speak Ponosakan fluently.[2] Ponosakan has the fewest speakers among the Gorontalo–Mongondow languages.[9]
There are 16 consonants and 5 vowels in Ponosakan.[3] In addition, the phoneme/ʤ/ only occurs in loanwords.[15]
| Labial | Alveolar/ Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||
| Stop | voiceless | p | t | k | ʔ |
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | ||
| Fricative | s | h | |||
| Lateral | l | ||||
| Trill | r | ||||
| Semivowel | w | j | |||
Consonants/w/,/r/,/h/ emerged from intervocalic and word-final lenition of earlier*(C)b,*Cd, and*(C)g (*C = any consonant). This type of lenition is still synchronic in Ponosakan:bohoyan "give (locative focus)", butmowohoy "give (active focus)";dalom "depth", butmoralom "deep". The lenited result of word-internal*d is less predictable though, as it became either/j/ and/h/ (but the former reflex is more common than the latter).[16] Similar toMongondow, the Ponosakan /l/ has the allophoneretroflex /ɭ/, which is usually pronounced when adjacent to the front vowels /e/, /i/, /a/, and /u/. However, due to the adjacency of both phonemes and the influence ofManado Malay usage since childhood (which notably only has /l/), both letters might have undergone a phonemic merger, though older people can still barely retain the distinction.[17]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Closed | i | u | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Open | a |
In word-final positions,/h/ and/l/ go silent and leavecompensatory lengthening on the vowels.[18]
| Agent focus | mohanggel [mohaŋɡeː] | mohisoh [mohisoː] |
|---|---|---|
| Object focus | anggelon [aŋɡelon] | isohon [isohon] |
| Meaning | 'slice (fish)' | 'play' |
Alongside this, there are isolated instances of longaa on words such asginaa'breath' andbulaan'gold', which came from earlier sequences*-awa- (*ginawa,*bulawan).[19]
As with other Philippine languages,pronouns in Ponosakan are distinguished bycase (nominative, genitive, and oblique);[20]number (singular and plural); and, for the first person plural pronouns,clusivity (inclusive and exclusive).[21] Other than the contrast between the singular and plural forms, Ponosakan also exhibits "count forms" for second and third person pronouns.[22] These forms are always followed by a number, as insiyatolu 'the three of them' andsiya'opat 'the four of them'.[22] In contrast, plural forms cannot be followed by a number. Both the count and plural forms can be used to represent any number of people, although there is a preference towards using the count forms for smaller numbers.[22]
There are three cases in Ponosakan: nominative, genitive, and oblique. Each case has its own marker, although the same marker is used for both nominative and genitive cases in common nouns.[22][23]
| Nominative | Genitive | Oblique | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common | in | in | kon | |
| Personal | singular | si | i | ki/kongki |
| plural | say | nay | konay | |
There are three root words fordemonstratives in Ponosakan: (1)na’a 'near speaker (whether or not also near addressee)', (2)niyon 'near addressee (but not speaker)', and (3)tain ormakota/takota 'far from both speaker and addressee'.[24] Examples of usage:[25]
| Onu na'a? 'What's this? (near speaker, or near both speaker and addressee)' | |
| Onu niyon? 'What's that? (near addressee but not speaker)' | |
| Onu in tain? 'What's that? (far from both)' |
There are at least 16interrogative words in Ponosakan. Most of them contain one of the following three roots:-onu,-onda, and-ʔene.[25][26] The form-onu by itself means 'what', but this root form can also be found inmo’onu 'when',mongonu 'why',songonu 'how much', andkosongonu 'how many times'. The form-onda when used in isolation means 'where' (used after verbs only), but this base can also be found inko’onda 'where',na’onda 'how (manner)', andta’onda 'which'. The base-ʔene is prefixed with case markers for personal names to form personal interrogatives (see table 3):si’ene 'who (nominative)',i’ene 'who (genitive)', andki’ene 'to whom (oblique)'; or, for the plural forms,say’ene,nay’ene, andkonay’ene. The only interrogative word which doesn't show any of the above base forms isoyo 'why'.[25]
Negation in Ponosakan is found in several forms. The worddeya' 'no' negates verbs, adjectives, existence or location. The worddika 'don't!' is used to negate commands. The worddi’iman 'not' negates nouns and equational sentences. There are alsodoi’ which means 'don't like, doesn't like' andta’awe which means 'I don't know'.[27]