Tobati language

Tobati, or Yotafa, is an Austronesian language within the Oceanic branch, from the Sarmi–Jayapura subfamily, in Jayapura bay in Papua province, Indonesia. Notably, Tobati displays a very rare object–subject–verb word order.

Tobati was once thought to be a Papuan language because as recently as 1952, it had a characteristically Papuan subject–object–verb word order.

Phonology

also shows allophony as . However, it does not behave as a stop (see below).

Tobati has a five-vowel system of / /, realized as [ ] in closed syllables.

Phonotactics

Tobati permits three consonants in the onset, and at most a single consonant or a nasal–stop cluster in the coda.

Nasal–stop clusters only permit a nasal and a stop of the same place of articulation. For the sequence, becomes dental []. Neither the bilabial, consisting of and the allophone , nor palatal nasal–stop clusters distinguish voice (i.e. they are and respectively). The sequence voices to .

References