Matbat language

Matbat
Misool
Native to	Indonesia
Native speakers	1,000–1,500 (2001)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Nuclear MP (Central–Eastern) Halmahera–Cenderawasih Halmahera Sea Maya–Matbat Matbat
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xmt
Glottolog	matb1237[2]

Matbat is a heavily Papuan-influenced Austronesian language spoken in West Papua on the island of Misool, Raja Ampat islands.^[1] Like neighboring Ma'ya, it is one of a handful of Austronesian languages with tone.

Matbat has five lexical tones: high falling ˥˩ 41, high ˦ 3, low rising ˩˨ 12, low level ˩ 1, and low falling ˨˩ 21, which in open syllables has a peaking allophone, ˩˨˩ 121. Most Matbat words are monosyllabic; additional syllables in polysyllabic words are often weak and toneless, though a few words do have two tonic syllables. Examples of some of the longer monomorphemic words are /kamow˩˨/ 'star', /wuy˦te/ 'sea shore', /sapu˥˩luy˩˨/ 'round', /bim˦bom˩˨˩pu/ 'butterfly'.

References

1. Remijsen
2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Matbat". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Further reading

• Remijsen, Bert. "A second RA tone language: Matbat". (PDF) http://www.lotpublications.nl/publish/articles/000175/bookpart.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)