Abstract: The Kaili language area of Central Sulawesi comprises several speech varieties which are more or less closely related to each other, and which various researchers have parceled into from one to up to four or more languages. Beginning with Adriani’s 1898 overview of the languages of Central Celebes, through the 2009 edition of the Ethnologue, this armchair study compares and contrasts the differing views which researchers have taken toward the classification of Kaili languages, which has sometimes included the related Kulawi (Moma) language.
Year Published: 2014
Subject Language: Baras, Da’a Kaili, Ledo Kaili, Unde Kaili, Moma
Publication Language: English
Contributors: David Mead
Abstract: This paper gives an overview of the four principal and nine minor dialects of Pamona, as described by the Dutch linguist Nicolaus Adriani in 1914. Although Adriani’s description of Pamona dialects is approaching one hundred years old, a serious follow-up survey to verify or amend it has never been conducted, even though for the minor dialects Adriani often had to rely on minimal information. Since Adriani’s day, two dialects have been reclassified as separate languages, while a third is probably extinct. For many others we are still in need of fuller and more reliable information.
Year Published: 2012
Subject Language: Pamona
Publication Language: English
Contributors: David Mead
Abstract: This paper presents the results of a dialect survey of the Cia-Cia language of southern Buton Island in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. This survey also encompassed the closely related Kumbewaha and Lasalimu languages, that is to say, all three languages belonging to the Butonic branch of the Muna-Buton group of languages. The principal results of this survey are as follows: (a) the Cia-Cia language comprises two primary dialect areas, a western dialect and a central-eastern dialect complex; (b) the small (and previously undocumented) Wasambua lect is recognized as a third, outlier dialect; (c) Kaisabu is elevated to the status of a separate language; (d) Kumbewaha is more dialectally complex than has previously been recognized; (e) the unity of the Butonic subgroup within Muna-Buton is confirmed.
Year Published: 2021
Subject Language: Cia-Cia, Kaisabu, Kumbewaha, Lasalimu
Publication Language: English
Contributors: David Mead and Christina Truong
