Austronesian language spoken in West Papua, Indonesia
Matbat is a heavily Papuan-influenced Austronesian language spoken in West Papua, Indonesia, on the island of Misool, Raja Ampat islands.[1] Its dialects are Magey and Tomolol.[2]: 17 Similar to the neighboring Ma'ya language, Matbat is one of a handful of Austronesian languages with true lexical tone rather than a pitch-accent system or complete lack of phonemic tonal contrasts as with most other Austronesian languages.[3]
Distribution
Matbat is spoken in the following locations within Raja Ampat Regency:[4]
- Misool Timur District: Tumolol, Lenmalas, Lenmalas Timur Barat, Audam, Foley, and Eduai villages
- Misool Utara District: Atkari and Salafen villages
- Misool Barat District: Magei village
Phonology
The phonology of the Matbat language is summarized below:[5]
/j/ can be heard freely as [ʝ] or [ɟ] in word-initial position.[1]
Tones
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', /wuj˦te/ 'sea shore', /sapu˥˩luj˩˨/ 'round', /bim˦bom˩˨˩pu/ 'butterfly'.
Evolution
Tonogenesis in Matbat remains unclear. Some Matbat reflexes of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP) proto-forms are listed below.[3]: 658–659
- PMP *bunuq > Mayá bu³n 'kill'
- PMP *penuq > fo¹²n 'full'
- PMP *salaq > sa³l 'error'
- PMP *qateluR (> *teluR) > to¹²l 'egg'
- PMP *matay > ma¹²t 'die'
- PMP *kutu > u³t 'louse'
