Tabaru | |
---|---|
Native to | Indonesia |
Region | Halmahera |
Native speakers | (15,000 cited 1991) [1] |
West Papuan?
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
tby |
Glottolog |
taba1263 |
Tabaru is a North Halmahera language of Indonesia.
Tabaru has a simple five vowel system: a, e, i, o, u. [2]
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
Plosive | voiceless | p | t | c | k | |
voiced | b | d | ɟ | ɡ | ||
Fricative | f | s | h | |||
Semivowel | j | w | ||||
Lateral | l | |||||
Trill | r |
On the surface level, Tabaru only allows syllables of the type (C)V. Words with an underlying final consonant add an echo vowel: ngówaka (/ngowak/) ′child′, ókere (/oker/) ′drink′, sárimi (/sarim/) ′paddle′, ódomo (/odom/) ′eat′, pálusu (/palus/) ′answer′. The echo vowel is dropped when a suffix is added: woísene (/woisen/) ′hear′, but woisenoka (/woisen/ + /oka/) ′heard′. Stress regularly falls on the penultimate syllable, but shifts to the antepenultimate when the word takes an echo vowel. [3]: 163