Location
The Talondo' language is spoken in a single village, Bonehau, in the Mamuju Regency (Valkama 1987:107, for location see also the sketch maps on pages 116 and 117).
Classification
Talondo' is currently listed as a member of the Sa'dan Toraja subgroup within the South Sulawesi language stock. However, this placement should be regarded as tentative, as Talondo' may in fact be a Seko language that has borrowed heavily from Kalumpang (Friberg and Laskowske 1989:8). In a prior overview Van der Veen (1929:62–63) had also included Talondo' among his list of Seko-speaking villages.
Population
A survey team which encountered the Talondo' language in 1985 estimated 500 speakers. A more current estimate, courtesy of Pdt. Aris Th. Tadollo, places the number of speakers at 1,200 (Sem Samboy 2011:pers.comm.).
References
Friberg, Timothy; and Thomas V. Laskowske. 1989. South Sulawesi languages, 1989. Studies in Sulawesi linguistics, part 1 (NUSA: Linguistic Studies of Indonesian and Other Languages in Indonesia, 31), edited by James N. Sneddon, 1–17. Jakarta: Badan Penyelenggara Seri Nusa, Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya. [Reproduced online. URL: http://sealang.net/archives/nusa/pdf/nusa-v31-p1-18.pdf (accessed January 13, 2014).]
Valkama, Kari. 1987. Kabupaten Mamuju. UNHAS-SIL South Sulawesi sociolinguistic surveys, 1983–1987 (Workpapers in Indonesian Languages and Cultures, 5), edited by Timothy Friberg, 99–117. Ujung Pandang: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Veen, H. van der. 1929. Nota betreffende de grenzen van de Sa'dansche taalgroep en het haar aanverwante taalgebied. Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 69:58–96.
