The Mentawai language is an Austronesian language, spoken by the Mentawai people of the Mentawai Islands, West Sumatra, Indonesia.

Dialects

According to Ethnologue, Mentawai dialects include: Silabu, Sipura – Simalegi, Sakalagan, Saumanganja – North Siberut, South Siberut – Taikaku – Pagai.^[1]

Syamsir Arifin, et al. (1992) list twelve dialects of Mentawai:

Dialects in Siberut Island are:^[2]

• Sikapone
• Togiiite
• Pokai
• Simajegi
• Simatalu
• Paipajet
• Sakuddei
• Sagulubbe
• Sirileleu
• Sikabaluan
• Sempungan
• Saibi & Sarabua
• Silaoinan
• Sarareiket
• Sabirut

Phonology

Consonants

• Allophones of /b ɡ k/ can be heard as [β ɣ ʔ]. [t͡ɕ] is a distinct sound in Mentawai, but not given phoneme status by Syamsir et al. because of the lack of minimal contrasts.^[3]
• The semivowels /w j/ only appear in final position.

Vowels