Uma (known natively as ) is an Austronesian language spoken in Central and South Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Phonology Consonants + Consonant inventory Bilabial Alveolar Palato-(alveolar) Retroflex Velar Glottal Nasal Plosive/Affricate Fricative Trill Approximant ()
Notes:
acts as a nasal in some respects and causes the nasalization of non-front vowels (e.g., [] 'ten'→ with nasal vowels). is realized as retroflex contiguous to non-front vowels. is neutralized word-initially, and is the only consonant that can occur in the coda or word-finally. In the Lincio variety of Central Uma, is pronounced . The semivowel is rare, found mainly in loan words. The affricate /tʃ/ is found only following /n/, i.e., in the prenasalized stop /ⁿtʃ/.
Orthographic notes:
is 'w' is 'ny' is 'ng' is 'y' is 'j' is 'c' is an apostrophe or simply 'ʔ'
Vowels
Vowel inventory Front Central Back Close Close-Mid Open
Pronouns
+Pronominals Free ABS ERG GEN 1P (SG) 1P (PL.ex) 1P (PL.in) 2P (SG) 2P (PL) 3P (SG) 3P (PL) hiraʔ -ra ra- -ra
Notes: ABS refers to pronominals in the absolutive case, while ERG refers to the ergative and GEN to the genitive. 1P means 'first person,' 2P means 'second person,' and 3P means 'third person.' (SG) means 'singular' and (PL) means 'plural.' (PL.ex) means 'plural exclusive' and (PL.in) means 'plural inclusive.' [∅-] means that ∅ is a proclitic. [-∅] means that ∅ is an enclitic. In the Tobaku, Tolee', and Winatu dialects, the possessives [] and [] are [] and [] respectively. In the Tolee' and Winatu dialects, the absolutives [] and [] are [] and [] respectively. The free forms [] and [] are [] and [] respectively.
Numerals The cardinal numbers from 1 to 10 are:
Classification of Uma varieties
Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013) recognizes seven dialects of Uma.
Bana Benggaulu (= Bingkolu) Kantewu (= Central Uma) Aria (= Southern Uma) Tobaku (= Ompa, Dompa, Western Uma) Tolee' (= Eastern Uma) Winatu (= Northern Uma)
Martens (2014) recognized six major dialects of Uma, noting that the Tori'untu dialect is nearly extinct due to the encroachment of the Kantewu dialect and non-Uma languages.
Kantewu (= Central) Southern Tolee' Tobaku Winatu Tori'untu
Martens also identifies two dialects closely related to Uma spoken in the Pasangkayu Regency.
Sarudu Benggaulu (= Bingkolu)
References
Bibliography