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| Tambora | |
|---|---|
_-_Comparative_vocabulary_of_the_Bugis%2c_Makasar%2c_Mandhar%2c_Buton%2c_Sasak%2c_Bima%2c_Sembawa_(Sumbawa)%2c_Tembora_(Tambora)%2c_Ende_languages.jpg) Comparative vocabulary including Tambora words, from Raffles'The History of Java | |
| Native to | Indonesia |
| Region | Sumbawa |
| Ethnicity | Tambora culture |
| Extinct | around1815 |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xxt |
xxt.html | |
| Glottolog | tamb1257 |
  Tambora | |
| Coordinates:8°15′S118°00′E / 8.25°S 118°E /-8.25; 118 | |
| 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. | |
Tambora is the poorly attested non-Austronesian (Papuan) language of theTambora culture of centralSumbawa, in what is nowIndonesia, that was made extinct by the1815 eruption ofMount Tambora. It was the westernmost known Papuan language[1] and was relatively unusual among such languages in being the language of a maritime trading state, though contemporary Papuan trading states were also found offHalmahera inTernate andTidore.[2]
One word list was collected prior to the eruption, published as Raffles (1817, 1830). It is clear from this that the language is notAustronesian; indeed, there are only a few Austronesian loans.[1]
In the list below,[1] it is presumed that⟨ng'⟩ transcribes[ŋ] and⟨dj⟩[dʒ]. Hyphen is possibly a glottal stop[ʔ]. Two words,búlu andmákan, are clearlyMalay loans. Zollinger (1850) identified several possible loans from other Austronesian languages; Tambora was a regional trading power, so a number of loans might be expected. The connection oftaintu with the PapuanTimor–Alor–Pantar *tan(a), if not coincidence, would presumably be genetic, not a loan.[1] However,Harald Hammarström considers it to be alanguage isolate.[3]
| Tambora | gloss | Tambora | gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| seena (AN?) | 'one' | maimpo | 'foot' |
| kálae | 'two' | kiro | 'blood' |
| nih | 'three' | kóngkong | 'day' |
| kude-in | 'four' | tádung | 'night' |
| kutélin | 'five' | kidjum | 'sleep' |
| báta-in | 'six' | sílam | 'dead' |
| kúmba | 'seven' | si-yang (Z: Malay?) | 'white' |
| koného | 'eight' | naido | 'black' |
| láli | 'nine' | sámar | 'good' |
| saróne | 'ten' | gonóre | 'bad' |
| sisaróne | 'twenty' | maing'aing | 'fire' |
| simári | 'one hundred' | naino (Z:Madura) | 'water' |
| doh (Bima) | 'person' | gónong (Z: Malay?) | 'earth' |
| sia-in (Z: Sangar) | 'man' | ilah | 'stone' |
| óna-yit | 'woman' | kíwu | 'pig' |
| homóri | 'father' | kilaíngkong | 'bird' |
| yelai | 'mother' | andik (Z:Javanese) | 'egg' |
| kokóre | 'head' | karáyi | 'fish' |
| saing'óre | 'eye' | ingkong | 'sun' |
| saing kóme | 'nose' | mang'ong | 'moon' |
| búlu (Malay:bulu) | 'hair' | kingkong | 'star' |
| sóntong | 'teeth' | mákan (Malay:makan) | 'eat' |
| sumóre | 'belly' | hok-hok (Z:German?) | 'sit' |
| taintu (Timor?) | 'hand' | moríhoh (Sanskrit?) | 'God' |
Donohue notes that word lists of this size from other Indonesian languages with relatively small consonant inventories typically succeed in recording all consonants, so the same might be expected here, apart from consonants which could not be transcribed withMalay orthographic conventions, such as theimplosives found in the region.P only occurs afterm, and may be a reflex ofh, as in other languages of the area. Overall, the phonemic profile is consistent with many languages of eastern Indonesia: that is, to the east but not to the west of Tambora.[1]
Hok-hok 'sit' suggests verbal reduplication, but the only other verb,makan, is an obvious Malay loan.[1]
Saing'óre 'eye',saing kóme 'nose',sóntong 'teeth',sumóre 'belly' all begin similarly, suggesting a prefix, possibly apossessive prefix, with a nasal-ng'that assimilates to a following consonant, and withsumóre 'belly' presumably from *more or *pore.[1]
Several of the numbers begin withsV-, a common pattern in Austronesian languages where 'one' is reduced to a prefix. Indeed,seena 'one' is a possible Austronesian loan. Donohue suggests thatsarone 'ten' ~sisarone 'twenty' may reflect an earliervigesimal system, possibly fromsa- 'one'doh 'person'-ne (suffix), a common way of counting 'twenty' in the region. 'Twenty' might then have shifted to meaning 'ten' under the influence of decimal trading partners.[1]
The wordmoríhoh 'God' reflects a common term in the area, of uncertain but perhaps Sanskrit derivation. In Tambora, however, it also resembleshomóri 'father', suggesting that neither word can be assumed to be native.[1]
Donohue notes one word,taintu 'hand', which is plausibly connected to other Papuan languages, those ofTimor and Alor to the east:Abuitaŋ,Oiratatana,Kuitan. This leaves the-tu as a possible suffix, and the similar shape ofmaimpo 'foot' suggests to Donohue that these may derive fromtayn andmaym plus a suffix-ho or-hu which assimilates to the preceding consonant.[1]
A number of words end in-(k)ong and-ore, and the former are semantically similar (ingkong 'sun',kóngkong 'day',mang'ong 'moon',kingkong 'star'), suggesting possible suffixes, though they might simply be coincidence.[1]