Sahu language (original) (raw)
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North Halmahera language spoken in Indonesia
| Sahu | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Indonesia |
| Region | Halmahera |
| Native speakers | (7,500 cited 1987)[1] |
| Language family | West Papuan? North HalmaheraSahuSahu |
| Dialects | Waioli Pa'disua Gamkonora Tala'i Ibu † |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:saj – Sahuibu – Ibu |
| Glottolog | sahu1245 Sahuibuu1240 Ibu |
| ELP | Ibu |
Sahu (Sa’u, Sahu’u, Sau) is a North Halmahera language. Use is vigorous; dialects are Pa’disua (Palisua), Tala’i, Waioli, and Gamkonora. A fifth dialect, Ibu, used to be spoken near the mouth of the Ibu River.[2]
Sahu has many Ternate loanwords, a historical legacy of the dominance of the Ternate Sultanate in the Moluccas.[3]
Sahu, like other North Halmahera languages, is not a tonal language.
Sahu consonant phonemes
| | Labial | Alveolar | Palato- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Nasal | m | n | | ɲ | ŋ | | | | Plosive/Affricate | voiceless | p | t | tʃ | | k | ʔ | | voiced | b | d | dʒ | | ɡ | | | | implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ʄ | | ɠ | | | | Fricative | f | s | | | | | | | Approximant | central | w | | | j | | h | | lateral | | l | | | | | | | Trill | | r | | | | | |
When preceding /a/, /o/, and /u/, the consonants /d/, /ɗ/, and /l/ become retroflex (/ɖ/, /ᶑ/, and /ɭ/, respectively). The trill /r/ alternates freely with /ɾ/, but, according to Visser and Voorhoeve, /r/ is the more usual allophone. The glottal /h/ may be realized as /χ/ by educated speakers for certain words deriving from Arabic.
Sahu vowel phonemes
| | Front | Central | Back | | | --------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | High | i | | u | | Mid | e | ə | o | | Low | | a | |
The phoneme /ə/ is only found in loans (primarily from Indonesian).