The Seko-Badaic languages in the interior highlands of Sulawesi

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Permanent URL: https://ezlinguistics.blogspot.de/p/seko-badaic.html
First posted: 03 May 2015
Last revised: 11 Nov 2017


1. Introduction

Seko and Badaic are two compact low-order subgroups in the Austronesian family. The member languages of these subgroups are spoken in the interior highlands in the heart of Sulawesi island. In earlier classifications, which are still cited by the Ethnologue, the Seko languages are included in the South Sulawesi subgroup, whereas the Badaic languages are classified as members of the Kaili-Pamona subgroup. However, Ülo Sirk (1989), David Mead (2003) and Tom Laskowske (2006) observed a special relation between Seko and Badaic. My aim in this paper is to outline the common phonological history of Seko-Badaic as a single subgroup, tracing it back to a common direct ancestor Proto Seko-Badaic. I will further show that the Badaic branch has to be extended to include a fourth member, viz. Limola, and that Rampi and a significant stratum of the Northern South Sulawesi languages also belong to Seko-Badaic.

2. Limola as a Badaic language

Limola (Lemolang) is the traditional language of the Baebunta area which was part of the Luwu' kingdom in South Sulawesi. It is now spoken only in two villages, being completely surrounded by Rongkong speakers. In Bada' myths, an ancient connection between Bada' and Baebunta is mentioned (Woensdregt 1925). Limola was linked to the Badaic languges by Esser ("Het Limolaas behoort tot de Centraal-Toradjase groep van de West-Toradja-talen [i.e. Bada', Besoa, Napu]", cited in Noorduyn 1963, p. 353) and Sirk (1989), without however citing evidence. In most studies, Limola is included in the South Sulawesi subgroup, e.g. in the classification by Grimes and Grimes (1987).

A qualitative inspection clearly shows that the phonological history and the basic lexical stock of Limola point at a relation to the Badaic languages. Apart from the Badaic core, Limola has quite a number of South Sulawesi loans, which is not unexpected given its current position as a relic language.

Common lexicon (both local innovations as well as retentions from high-order proto languages) with identical or near-identical forms includes:

Limola
vutu-na
ovase
ile
ikodo
tave
otampo
ivoi
mearo
meluu
ilalu
opuru
-insa
Bada'
wutuˀ
waheˀ
ile
kodo
taweˀ
tampoˀ
iwoiˀ
mearo
meluˀu
ilalu
puru
-isa

"elder sibling"
"blood"
"snake"
"I"
"leaf"
"earth"
"below"
"wake up"
"swim"
"inside"
"bile"
"know"


This is just a selection of the correspondence sets between Limola and Bada'. The only major phonological difference is the retention of *s and *ns in Limola, which became h and s in the other Badaic languages, and the loss of final glottal stop which also occurred in Napu.

Based on this evidence, I include Limola within the Badaic languages, since there is no evidence for a closer relation of Napu, Besoa, Bada' as a whole against Limola.


3. Aspects of the phonological history of Seko and Badaic

3.1. The inventory of final consonants

The Seko languages have five contrasts for the final syllable coda, corresponding to only two contrasts in Badaic:

Proto-Seko
-V (short vowel)
-V: (long vowel)
-Vˀ
-Vk
-Vŋ
Proto-Badaic
-V
-Vˀ
-Vˀ
-Vˀ
-V


Only the Seko long vowel and final *k represent one-to-one continuations of PMP sounds, viz. *q and *k, respectively. Since Proto Seko -V: corresponds to Proto Badaic -Vˀ, we have to reconstruct a final stop for Proto Seko-Badaic here, most likely *ˀ.

The other three coda sets have multiple sources:

- The short vowel is either original or due to loss of *h or *R.

- When Proto Seko and Proto Badaic both have a final glottal stop, this is derived from an earlier stop other than *q or *k, i.e. *p, *b, *t, *d, *j. For Proto Seko-Badaic, I reconstruct *p (< *b, *p) and *t (< *t, *d, *j) here. These two stops clearly must have been distinct, as can be seen from the different reflexes of a preceding vowel *ə (see 3.3. below).

- The lateral *l and the three nasals *m, *n, and *ŋ merged into *ŋ in Proto Seko, while they were lost in Proto Badaic. However, a final nasal or *l left a trace on a preceding vowel *a, which then shifts to a back low vowel *å in Proto Badaic. The contrast beteeen *a and *å is only preserved in Bada'.

PMP
*təlang
*pijan
*bulan
*kawanan
*daqan
*kapal
Proto-Badaic
*tålå
*im|pirå
*wulå
*koånå
*dåˀå
*kåpå
Proto-Seko
*tàlaŋ
*piraŋ
*hulaŋ
*koanaŋ
---
---

"bamboo"
"when"
"moon"
"right"
"branch"
"thick"


For Proto Seko-Badaic, we can reconstruct a distinct labial nasal *m, based on its influence on preceding *ə (see below). Apart from this, we have no direct evidence that Proto Seko-Badaic retained the contrast between *n and *ŋ, and whether *l at that stage already had merged with with either *n or *ŋ. Since Proto Seko-Badaic still had a full set of final stops *p/*t/*k, it is most likely that the nasals also had the corresponding set of contrasts. Therefore I reconstruct Proto Seko-Badaic final *m/*n/*ng whenever supported by top-down evidence, otherwise I will reconstruct a generic nasal *N if only witnessed internally by final *ng in Seko.

A small number of corresponcences between Proto Seko *-Vˀ and Proto Badaic *-V indicate the retention of final *s in Proto Seko-Badaic.

PMP
*Ratus
*bətiəs
*diRus
Proto-Badaic
*-atu
*biti
*doi (Met)
Proto-Seko
*-atuˀ
*bìtiˀ
*doiˀ

"hundred"
"calf (leg)"
"bathe"


For Proto Seko-Badaic I thus reconstruct *atus, *bətis, *dois. More examples for the zero-reflex of final *s in Proto-Badaic include *upu < *əpus, *peli (cf. PSS *pilis).

3.2. Reflexes of *z, *d and *j

All Seko-Badaic languages have merged medial *j/*z/*d to r and final *j/*d to ˀ. For the medial reflex, we can reconstruct PSB *r, for the final reflex I have reconstructed *t above. The merger of *j with *d and *z is the main reason for excluding the Badaic languages from Kaili-Wolio and Celebic as a whole, since the regular Celebic reflex of *j is *y. Note that unlike Seko-Badaic, Kaili-Wolio keeps medial *j/*z/*d all distinct.

The reflexes of initial *d and *z are less regular, although *d appears to be the regular reflex.

PMP
*qapəju
*pajay
*pijan
*pusəj
*laləj
*palaj

*duRi
*kudən
*tuduR
*tuhud

*tazəm
*quzan
*qazay
*ka-zauq
Proto-Badaic
*puru
*pare
*pirå
*posiˀ
*daliˀ
---

*dui
*kori
*turu
*kun-tuˀ

*taru
*urå
*are
*karaoˀ
Proto-Seko
*pùru
*pare
*piraŋ
*posiˀ
*daliˀ
*palaˀ

*dui
*koriŋ
*turu
*kun-tuˀ

*-taruŋ
*uraŋ
---
*karaō
PKW
*apəyu
*pae
*pia
*puse
*lale
*pale

*rui
*kura
*turu
*-tuˀ

*taja
*uja
*aje
---

"bile"
"rice"
"when"
"navel"
"fly"
"palm (hand)"

"thorn"
"cooking pot"
"sleep"
"knee"

"sharp"
"rain"
"chin"
"far"




3.3. Reflexes of *ə

The reflexes of PMP *ə are quite diverse in the Seko-Badaic languages. In the first place we have to distinguish reflexes in the penultimate and the ultimate syllable.

In penultimate position, Seko languages always have a short vowel as reflex of *ə. The quality of this vowel usually agrees with the Badaic reflex. Quite regular is the reflex as Badaic *u, Seko *ù if followed by ultimate *u.

PMP
*qapəju
*qitəluR
*təbuh
*bəsuR

*ənəm
*pəcəq
*sədiŋ
*qaləjaw
*ma-əmis
Proto-Badaic
*puru
*tulu
*tuwu
*busu

*ini
*piseˀ
*sådi
*ålo
*mumiˀ
Proto-Seko
*pùru
*tùlu
*tùhu
---

*ùnuŋ
*pìsē
*sàdiŋ
*àlo
*màmiˀ

"bile"
"egg"
"sugarcane"
"satiated"

"six"
"braek"
"feel/hear"
"day"
"sweet"


The example of Proto-Seko *ùnung, Proto-Badaic *ini shows that the rule of assimilation to the following vowel was still active after the breakup of Proto-Seko and Proto-Badaic. For this reason I prefer to reconstruct penultimate *ə for Proto Seko-Badaic, which was partially subject to total assimilation to the following vowel in Seko and Badaic. Evidence from Rampi and the Northern South Sulawesi languages supports the reconstruction of penultimate *ə from Proto Seko-Badaic, as I will show below.

In final position, the default reflex of *ə is i in Seko and Badaic, unless followed by *m, *p or *q. If followed by *q, we find regular raising to e.

PMP
*gatəl
*kudən
*pusəj
*laləj
*utək
*saləR
*təbəŋ

*pəcəq
*basəq
Proto-Badaic
*kati
*kori
*posiˀ
*daliˀ
*åtik
---
*tiwi

*piseˀ
*waseˀ
Proto-Seko
*katiŋ
*koriŋ
*posiˀ
*daliˀ
*etik
*sali
---

*pìsē
---

"itch"
"cooking pot"
"navel
"fly"
"brain"
"floor"
"fell"

"break"
"wet"


If followed by the labials *p or *m, the predominant reflex of *ə is u, with a few discrepancies though.

PMP
*daləm
*tazəm
*qatəp

*i daləm
*ənəm
Proto-Badaic
*ka-ladu
*taru
*atuˀ

*i lalu
*ini
Proto-Seko
*ka-laduŋ
*taruŋ
*atuˀ

*i laliŋ
*ùnuŋ


Based on the almost uniform reflexes in Seko and Badaic, it is tempting to reconstruct Proto Seko-Badaic *i in the default case (e.g. *katin, *korin, *dalit) and *u preceding *p and *m (e.g. *tarum, *atup). This leaves us however with the problem what to reconstruct in the case of *lalu/*laliŋ and *ini/*ùnuŋ. For Proto Seko-Badaic, we would have to reconstruct doublets *lalim/*lalum and *ənim/*ənum. I rather suggest here that Proto Seko-Badaic had retained *ə in the ultimate syllable too, probably as a high central vowel [ɨ]. As a post-Proto Seko-Badaic drift, ultimate *ə shifted to *u before labials in Proto Seko and Proto Badaic, and to *i elsewhere, with a few exceptions such as *laləm and *ənəm.


3.4. Reflexes of *R and final vowel coloring

The high vowels *u and *i remain unchanged in Seko-Badaic preceding earlier final *R. Ultimate *ə is reflected by *i before final *R (only in Seko and Limola), which is again the regular reflex of *ə if not followed by a labial consonant.

The ultimate vowel *a is raised to e in all Seko and Badaic lects, which is a very particular feature of Seko-Badaic. The Kaili-Wolio languages regularly reflect final *-aR as o, although e does occur under special circumstances as a reflex in Northern Kaili-Wolio.

PMP
*qitəluR
*tuduR
*saluR
*ikuR
*bəsuR

*bibiR
*wahiR

*saləR
*dəŋəR

*tibaR
*bahaR
*hulaR
*madaR
Proto-Badaic
*tulu
*turu
*salu
*iku
*buhu

*wiwi
*uwai

---
*dâŋi

*tibe
*pe-we
*ile
---
Proto-Seko
*tùlu
*turu
---
---
---

*hihi
*uhai

*sali
---

*tibe
*pe-he
*ile
*mare



3.5. Other characteristic features of Seko-Badaic

Many characteristic features of Seko-Badaic are shared with the South Sulawesi languages. These include:

- Lowering of ultimate *i and *u to *e and *o preceding final *q.
- Retention of the applicative suffix *-an, which is replaced by *-akən in the Celebic languages.
- An uncontracted reflex of *wahiR "water" as Proto Seko-Badaic *uwai (Proto Seko *uhai, Proto Badaic *uwai).


4. The position of Rampi

Rampi is spoken in the highlands at the border of the provinces of South Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi, to the south of the Badaic area. Like the Badaic languages, it was classified as belonging to the Kaili-Pamona subgroup in earlier classifications. Phonological evidence however clearly shows that Rampi does not belong to Kaili-Pamona (or to the larger Kaili-Wolio subgroup, in my revised classification scheme), but rather shows much agreement with the Seko-Badaic languages.

Two important features are shared with Seko-Badaic:

a) PMP *j is reflected as a stop (with further lenition to r in intervocalic position):

Rampi
tuari
ando
iliˀ
PMP
*waji
*qaləjaw
*uləj
Proto SB
*adi
*əlo
---


b) Ultimate *-aR is reflected as -e:

Rampi
üle
hanüpe
PMP
*hulaR
*dipaR
Proto SB
*ile
*dipe


Another shared feature is the reflex of *ə as i in the ultimate syllable (e.g. *ənəm > əni, *qitəm > iti). Since I consider this a result of post-Seko-Badaic drift, it is not diagnostic for a special relation between Rampi and Seko-Badaic.

On the other hand, Rampi also shows several features which clearly separate it from Seko-Badaic:

- The high vowels *i and *u are unchanged before final *q: *tubuq > tuhuˀ, *putiq > puhiˀ).
- The applicative suffix is represented by -ki. Rampi thus follows the Celebic languages in replacing *-an by *-akən.

Rampi further underwent strong lexical influence from an early form of Kaili-Wolio, as I have shown in my paper on the Kaili-Wolio languages.

Finally, Rampi differs in several aspects completely from both Seko-Badaic and Kaili-Wolio:

- PMP *kan "eat" is retained as ka in Rampi. Proto South Sulawesi, Proto Seko-Badaic and Southern Kaili Wolio share innovative *kandeˀ, while Northern Kaili-Wolio has innovative *koniˀ. PMP *kan is retained in most Celebic languges except for Kaili-Wolio.
- PMP *qaləjaw "day" is reflected by Rampi ando. A medial nasal cluster in this etymon is only found in the Gorontalo-Mongondow and Minahasan subgroups in the north (PGM *ondow, PM *əndo), and in Totoli (ondo). This contrasts with Proto Kaili-Wolio *əyo, Proto Seko-Badaic *əlo.
- PMP *-ay becomes -i in Rampi: *maRuqanay > maˀani, *matay > mahi.

Much more data is needed for a final assessment of the position of Rampi. At the current stage it is clear that it contains at least two strata, one clearly related to Seko-Badaic, the other derived from Proto Kaili-Wolio; and probably also an archaic layer that is only distantly related to its neighbours (Seko-Badaic, South Sulawesi, Celebic).


5. The Seko-Badaic stratum in the Northern South Sulawesi languages

The Northern branch of the South Sulawesi subgroup includes the following languages:

1. Mandar
2. Mamuju
3. UAT (Ulumanda', Aralle-Tabulahan)
4. Bambam
5. Mamasa
6. Toraja
7. Massenrempulu (Enrekang, Duri, Maiwa)
8. Luwu'
9. Rongkong
10. Kalumpang

Next to some shared lexcial innovations (*maniŋo "play", *manaraŋ "clever", *uduk "smell"), the Northern branch is characterized by two different reflexes of *R which clearly points at two strata already at the Proto Northern South Sulawesi stage. One stratum clearly links up with the other South Sulawesi languages, having Proto Northern South Sulawesi *r for *R and lowering of a preceding high vowel to *e or *o.

PMP
*ka-Rabiˀi-an
*daRaq
*hipaR
*luaR
*linuR
*iluR
*qauR
**kədəR
**lisəR
PNSS
*karabian
*rara
*ipar
*luar
*linor
*elor
*aor
*kedder
*liser

araviaŋ (Mandar), karahiaŋ (Ulumanda'), karuen (Mamasa, Toraja, Duri)
rara (Ulumanda', Mamasa, Toraja, Duri)
ipar (Mandar), ipah (Duri), ipaˀ (Bambam, Mamasa, Toraja)
luah (Duri), luaˀ (Mamasa, Toraja)
linor (Mandar), ninoh (Duri), linoˀ (Toraja)
elor (Mandar), eloh (Duri), eloˀ (Bambam, Mamasa)
kajaoh (Duri), aoˀ (Mamasa)
keˀdeh (Duri), keˀdeˀ (Mandar, Ulumanda', Mamasa, Toraja)
liseˀ (Toraja)


In many etyma however, we find a zero reflex of *R in all languages of the Northern branch.

PMP
*Rusuk
*maRuqanay
*dəŋəR
*saləR
*saluR
*bəsuR
*wahiR
*tibaR
*dipaR
PNSS
*usuk
*muane
*rəŋŋi
*sali
*salu
*bəssu
*uwai
*tibe
*dipe

usuk (Mamasa, Toraja), usuˀ (Mandar, Bambam), üsüˀ (Ulumanda')
muane (Mandar, Ulumanda', Bambam, Mamasa, Toraja, Duri)
raŋŋi (Mandar, Mamasa, Toraja), riŋŋi (Ulumanda'), hiŋŋi (Bambam)
sali (Ulumanda', Bambam, Mamasa, Toraja, Duri)
salu (Ulumanda', Bambam, Mamasa, Toraja, Duri)
bassu (Mandar, Toala')
uwai (Mandar, Bambam), wai (Mamasa, Toraja, Duri), uhai (Ulumanda')
tibe (Ulumanda', Mamasa, Toraja)
ripe (Ulumanda'), dipe (Bambam)


This stratum is clearly related to Seko-Badaic, as is obvious from the reflexes of *-aR as *-e, and *-əR as *-i. Based on the wide distribution of these Seko-Badaic forms, we have to assume that they can be reconstructed for PNSS. Note that the other South Sulawesi branches show the regular *r-reflex here:

PMP
*maRuqanay
*dəŋəR
*saləR
*saluR
*bəsuR
PSS
*buruˀane
*rəŋŋər
*salər
*salor
*bəssor

burane (Bugis), buraˀne (Makassar)
láŋŋereˀ (Makassar)
sarar (Embaloh)
salo: (Bugis)
wəsso: (Bugis), bássoroˀ (Makassar), bosor (Embaloh)


This clearly indicates that Proto Northern South Sulawesi had two strata, one originating from Proto South Sulawesi and the other one from Proto Seko-Badaic. Incidentally, the Proto Northern South Sulawesi reconstructions *rəngngi and *bəssu give support to my assumption that Proto Seko-Badaic had *ə in the penultimate syllable.

In some cases, only a part of the Northern languages (usually the westernmost members Mandar and UAT) has a zero reflex.

PMP
*hulaR

*duRi

*qitəluR

*huRat

PNSS
*ular

*duri

*təllor

*urat


ular (Mandar), ulah (Duri), ulaˀ (Bambam, Mamasa, Toraja)
ile (Ulumanda')
duri (Mamasa, Toraja, Duri), duhi (Bambam)
dui (Ulumanda')
talloh (Duri), talloˀ (Mandar, Toraja)
tullu (Ulumanda', Bambam)
uraˀ (Ulumanda', Mamasa, Toraja, Duri), uhaˀ (Bambam)
ueˀ (Mandar)


Here, we have to assume later borrowing from a Seko-Badaic language. In the first three instances, Ulumanda' has clearly borrowed from a Seko lect. All in all, UAT shows heavy borrowing from Seko far beyond the Seko-Badaic stratum in Proto NSS.


6. Conclusion

[UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

References

Barr, Donald F. and Barr, Sharon G. and Salombe, C. 1979. Languages of Central Sulawesi: checklist, preliminary classification, language maps, wordlists. Ujung Pandang: Hasanuddin University.

Grimes, Charles E. and Grimes, Barbara D. 1987. Languages of South Sulawesi. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics: Series D, 78.

Laskowske, Tom. 2006. The Seko Languages of South Sulawesi: a Reconstruction. Paper presented at the Tenth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics. 17-20 January 2006. Palawan, Philippines. http://www.sil.org/asia/philippines/ical/papers.html

Martens, Michael P. 1989. The Badaic languages of Central Sulawesi. In Sneddon, James N. (ed.), Studies in Sulawesi languages, part 1, 19-53. Jakarta: Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya.

Mead, David. 2003. Evidence for a Celebic supergroup. In Lynch, John (ed.), 2003: 114-141.

Noorduyn, J. 1963. Mededelingen uit de verslagen van Dr S.J. Esser, taalambtenaar voor Celebes 1928-1944. In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 119, 329-370.

Sirk, Ülo. 1989. On the Evidential Basis for the South Sulawesi Language Group. In Sneddon, James N. (ed.), Studies in Sulawesi languages, part 1, 55-82. Jakarta: Universitas Katolik Indonesia Atma Jaya.

Woensdregt, Jac. 1929. Rampi'sche verhalen venaald en van aanteekeningen voorzien. In: Tijdschrift Bataviaasch Genootschap 69, 254-319.

Woensdregt, Jac. 1925. Mythen en sagen der Berg-Toradja's van Midden-Selebes, vertaald en van aanteekeningen voorzien. (Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, 65:3.) Weltevreden: Kolff.

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