Pamona (also Poso or Bare’e) is an Austronesian language spoken in Central and South Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is part of the northern group of the Kaili–Pamona languages.
Dialects Ethnologue lists the following as dialects: Laiwonu (Iba), Pamona (Poso), Rapangkaka (Aria), Taa (Topotaa, Wana), Tobau (Bare’e, Tobalo, Tobao), Tokondindi, Tomoni, and Topada.
The Poso dialect is the prestige dialect, specifically the variety spoken in the interior around Lake Poso. The coastal Poso variety () – mostly spoken by Muslims in the trading hub Poso – does not differ significantly from the interior prestige variety (e.g. it uses the same negator bare'e as the interior variety), but has undergone some lexical influence from Buginese and the Parigi dialect of Kaili.Mead, David (2012). Overview of Pamona dialects (per Nicolaus Adriani). Sulang Language Data and Working Papers: Survey Reports, no. 2. Sulawesi Language Alliance.
Phonology Pamona has the following sound inventory:
Consonants Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal Plosive voiceless voiced Prenasalizedplosive voiceless voiced Fricative Nasal Trill Approximant
Vowels Front Central Back Close Close-Mid Open
References
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