PACIFIC LINGUISTICS Series D - No. 70 THE SAMA/BAJAU LANGUAGE IN THE LESSER SUNDA ISLANDS by Jilis A.J. Verheijen, SVD (MATERIALS IN LANGUAGES OF INDONESIA, No.32) W.A.L. Stokhof, Series Editor Department of Linguistics Research School of Pacific Studies THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY Verheijen, J.A.J.S. The Sama/Bajau language in the Lesser Sunda Islands. D-70, viii + 217 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1986. DOI:10.15144/PL-D70.cover ©1986 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative. PACIF.IC LINGUISTICS is issued through the Linguistic Circle of Canberra and consists of four series: SERIES A - Occasional Papers SERIES B - Monographs SERIES C - Books SERIES D - Special Publications EDITOR: S.A. Wurm ASSOCIATE EDITORS: D.C. Laycock, C.L. Voorhoeve, D.T. Tryon, T.E. Dutton EDITORIAL ADVISERS: B.W. Bender K.A. McElhanon University of Hawaii Summer Institute of Linguistics David Bradley H.P. McKaughan La Trobe University University of Hawaii A. Capell P. MUhlhiiusler University of Sydney Linacre College, Oxford Michael G. Clyne G.N. O'Grady Monash University University of Victoria, B.C. S.H. Elbert A.K. Pawley University of Hawaii University of Auckland K.J. Franklin K.L. Pike Summer Institute of Linguistics Summer Institute of Linguistics W.W. Glover E.C. Polome Summer Institute of Linguistics University of Texas G.W. Grace Malcolm Ross University of Hawaii Australian National University M.A.K. Halliday Gillian Sankoff University of Sydney University of Pennsylvania E. Haugen W.A.L. Stokhof Harvard University University of Leiden A. Healey B.K. T'sou Summer Institute of Linguistics City Polytechnic of Hong Kong L.A. Hercus E.M. Uhlenbeck Australian National University University of Leiden Nguy&n fHl.ng Liem J. W.M. Verhaar University of Hawaii Divine Word Institute, John Lynch Madang University of Papua New Guinea All correspondence concerning PACIFIC LINGUISTICS, including orders and subscriptions, should be addressed to: The Secretary PACIFIC LING UISTICS Department of Linguistics Research School of Pacific Studies The Australian National University Canberra, A.C.T. 2601 Australia Copyright © The Author First Published 1986 Typeset by Ling Matsay Maps drawn by Theo Baumann Printed by A.N.U. Printing Service Bound by Adriatic Bookbinders Pty Ltd The editors are indebted to the Australian National University for assistance in the production of this series This publication was made possible by an initial grant from the Hunter Douglas Fund ISSN 0078-7566 ISBN 0 85883 335 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS page MAP v PREFACE vii ABBREVIATIONS viii 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. PHONETICS 2 2.1 General 2 2.2 Vocalic sounds 2 2.3 Diphthongs 3 2.4 The pepet 3 2.5 Consonants 4 3. PHONEMICS 5 3.1 Vowe ls 5 3.2 Vowel situations (diagram) 6 3.3 Diphthongs 7 3.4 Consonantal phonemes 7 3.5 Wo rd-stress 9 4. MORPHOLOGY AND MORPHOPHONEMICS 9 4.1 Morphophonemic changes of verbs 9 4.2 Substitutional nasalisation (N -) l 10 4.3 Prefixes 10 4.4 Suffixes 13 4.5 Circumfixes 15 4.6 Petrified affixed forms 17 4.7 Infixes 17 4.8 Reduplication 17 5. SYNTAX 19 5.1 General 19 5.2 Pronouns 19 5.3 Numerals 20 , 5.4 The emphatic ne 20 5.5 The sentence 20 6. SAMA PEOPLE , SAMA LANGUAGE AND SAMA DIALECTS 23 6.1 Race and language 23 6.2 Bajo settlements in the Lesser Sunda Islands 24 6.3 Dialectal differences 26 6.4 Why the Bajos spread so extensively 29 iii iv page 7. TEXTS WITH TRANSLATIONS 30 7.1 The sea-cow 's origin (with interlinear translation) 30 7.2 Going angling (w. i.t. ) 32 7.3 A riddle (w. i.t. ) 33 7.4 Aladdin and his larnp (with facing translation) 35 7.5 Love is the source of riches (w. f.t.) 41 7.6 The Island of Messah (w. f.t.) 44 7.7 A song 46 8. LISTS OF NAMES AND TERMS 47 8.1 Scientific - Sarna narnes of plants 47 8.2 Scientific - Sarna names of molluscs 49 8.3 Scientific - Sarna names of fishes 51 8.4 Names of other sea-animals and fishing-terms 55 8.5 Some personal names 55 8.6 Kinship terms and marriage 56 8.7 Some nautical terms 58 9. VOCABULARIES 60 9.1 Sarna - Indonesian - English 60 9.2 Indonesian - Sarna 122 9.3 English - Sarna 156 10. NOTES 195 BIBLIOGRAPHY 207 �� .r:if.� ""----.,.-::-:-"'=-=c:-' PA N TA R FLORES , , v " . " -_ .. SAWU ,4, � " . !.,,�£-;. 00 a d cJ.i. o Wangkung o Seteluk SUMBAWA BESAR MANGGARAI oRekas I o Taliwang III Sarna (Bajo) speaking settl ements in the Lesser Sunda Islands (Nusa Tenggara) vii PREFACE In the harbours of th e Lesser Sunda Islands the 'Bajos ' are well-known fisher­ men and highly valued divers . However, in their daily life they are retiring and rather secluded from other tribes while living in often tiny villages which are scattered on small islands and lonely coasts . The Encyclopa edi e van Nederlandsch - Indi e gives a good survey of what was known and published about these sea-nomads in Eastern Indonesia up to 1917. Sixty years later the Koninklijk Instituut voor taal- , Land- en Volkenkunde in Leiden has earned the praise of all students interested by editing the brochure Sama/Bajau speakers in the Phi lippines, Northern Ma laysia and Indonesia according to da ta collected by Carol Molony and J. Noorduyn . From this survey it becomes obvious that since Adriani 's article in 1900 the study of the language of the Bajos in the Indonesian region hardly made any headway . The study was almost limited to a few small word lists . It is because of this scantiness that I venture to divulge my materials and remarks . I arn fully aware of their limitedness and deficiencies , since I had to correct myself often up to the last lines . But even so I do believe that a lot of data will be welcome for the sake of linguistic comparison from which I myself all but abstained . Although it was my first purpose to write about the Sarna language , yet many not directly linguistic peculiarities are given , especially in the Notes . They are connected with the history , wanderings and customs of this people of fishermen and former pirates . The se elements left clear imprints on the language in general and on the speech of different communities. I feel mo st indebted to my confrere Jim Perry who corrected my English in an early stage of th is article . Concerning the printing stage I am very grateful to Dr C.L. Voorhoeve who made numerous corrections and several essential emendations in my MS . Because of th is kind help I feel much assured as to the usefulness of this study . I should like to thank also the Editors for taking care of my far from perfect text, and Ling Matsay for her fine typesetting . viii ABBREVIATIONS - SINGKATAN-SINGKATAN Ad . Adonara Ml . Melayu adj . adjective MN Melanesia (Dempwolff) adv . adverb NB Nichols & Bartsch AN Austronesian (Dempwolff) o.s. oneself bdk bandingkan opp . opposite to page Bur . Bureh pl . plural cj., conj . conjunction Ji?N Polynesia (Dempwolff) cp o compare pref. prefix DH Delsman & Hardenberg prep . preposition dl dalam pron . pronoun dll dan lain-lain prt particle dng dengan sb sebangsa, sejenis dp dari pada sbg sebagai dr dari sing. singular dsb dan sebagainya s.o. someone dst dan seterusnya sp ., spp . species E. English spt seperti e.g. exempli gratia spy supaya IN Indonesia (Dempwolff) ssp . subspecies Ind . Indonesia sst sesuatu into interjection Sul . Sulamu intr . intransitive T. Tanjoh k kata Tog. Togian Islands k. o. kind of tr . transitive kpg . kampung tt ten tang ku . kata ulang v. verb lb., LB., Labuanbajo v. i. verb intransitive lih, Ih lihatlah v. t. verb transitive M. Manggarai yg yang Min. Minahasa ku"ma i the syllable ku is Mk. Makasar stressed For kinship abbreviations see note 72 . In etymology Dempwolff 's 'orthography ' and signs are used after AN etc . Verheijen, J.A.J.S. The Sama/Bajau language in the Lesser Sunda Islands. D-70, viii + 217 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1986. DOI:10.15144/PL-D70.cover ©1986 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative. 1. INTRODUCTION In 1947 sailing in a sampan I noted my first Bajol words , a few bird names . In my notes I find that already then my attention was drawn by the double (I) and the u-tinged (0) in ka llo hepon. In 1977 I tried to know a bit more about the Bajo language in connection with my study of the people on the near�by Island of Komodo . So I filled in Swadesh 's list of 214 words with the kind help of the late Mr. Adang D�udje , whom I met in Labuanbajo. I had also a score of sentences translated . Then I learned that the Bajos there called themselves Sarna People Aha Sarna . My interest in the language was kindled anew by the pamphlet by Molony and Noorduyn, which I received in 1978. But the real piece of good luck was that I made the acquaintance of the then high-school student in Ruteng, the 20 years old Sahamma , Bajo by birth from Labuanbajo. 3 For many hours he taught me . He wrote a few stories, and transcribed - not always precisely - some tape­ recordings .