Tombonuwo language

Tombonuwo (Tambonuo) is a Paitanic language spoken in the Pitas and Labuk-Sugut Districts of northwest Sabah, Malaysia.

Phonology

Source:

Consonants

The phonemes are voiceless. All other expressions are voiced.

Vowels

is often pronounced as unrounded .

is neutralized to in a pre-stressed syllable.

Morphology

Focus

Sabahan languages are characterized by "focus" morphology, which marks a syntactic relationship between the predicate of a clause and the "focused" noun phrase of the clause (see Austronesian alignment).

Tombonuwo has four focus categories, conventionally labelled "actor", "patient", "referent" and "theme". Focus is marked by affixation on the verb.

• Actor: -um- / m(u)-
• Patient: -on (Present tense) / -∅ (Past tense)
• Referent: -an
• Theme: i-

Tense and aspect

Source:

The only marked tense in Tombonuwo is past tense.

• Past tense: n- (-in-)
• Stative: o-
• Perfective: ko-
• Non-volitional past tense: n-o-
• Accomplishment: n-o-ko-

Demonstratives

Source:

• Near the speaker:
• Far from the speaker:
• Medium distance from the speaker:

References